Getting back to basics....

 ....is always a good thing, whether it is in photography, cooking or just life in general.  A good grasp of the fundamentals always makes the task intended in hand a bit easier.  Exercise One, looking at the effect of different focal lengths on a scene, has a number of benefits as I see it.

I tend to think about what I am trying to achieve with an image before thinking about the equipment to be used. Clearly, knowing that my eyes equate broadly to a 50mm lens on a 35mm camera assists greatly in that effectively what I see is what I get, particularly when the aperture is stopped down at f22 providing the maximum depth of field. From there thinking about what aperture to use provides alternative images based on the depth of field created, but that is for another exercise as is decisions to be made on shutter speed.

Using a telephoto lens obviously enhances my general eyesight enabling detail to be brought to the fore from a distance depending on the size of the lens, say 135mm or 200mm. It also does other things like compressing the foreground and background bringing them closer to the main point of focus compared to a standard lens. The narrowing of the field of vision will take out other elements compared to the standard lens but again this comes back to what I am trying to achieve with the image I am producing.

Using a wide angle lens, such as a 24mm, creates a field of view greater than is capable in the human eye and opens up opportunities to create great space in an image. Packing so much in essentially reduces the size of objects compared to the telephoto and standard lens. Great vistas can be catered for or perhaps detail from front to back where a dominant foreground can be balanced against an impressive wider scene. I think Charlie Waite uses foreground interest with great effect when dealing with landscape images, effectively having interest across the entire image.

So when taking three pictures of the same scene using a zoom lens set at 24mm, 50mm and 97mm focal lengths, printing them and viewing them to ensure the image being viewed is the same size on each print, one needs zoom arms. I did notice an inverse effect where bringing the wide angle print in so close has the effect, to my eyes anyway, of zooming in!

I took these two images in 2008, that I think illustrates the different perspectives on the same scene.

24mm

97mm

And for me what is the benefit of thinking about how different lenses, or focal lengths on a zoom lens, lead to different outcomes on the same scene? I suppose it helps you think about what you are trying to achieve and in doing so slows the process down to thinking before proceeding. Visualising first then deciding second and executing third. Like the old joke "fire, ready, aim" is never as good as "ready, aim, fire" and as Blackadder Goes Forth nicely put it, "about 40 years between aim and fire!"

As an aside the human eye is a wonder in terms of its focus, depth of field and exposure capabilities!