I figured I would ask here as this is all about wide angle. I am a newbie and have a Canon t1i. What would any of you recommend for a beginner wide angle lens for my camera. Price is a important factor but I don't want a cheap piece of junk either. Thank you in advance
As mentioned above, you'd be fine with the Canon lens...honestly, I think you'd be fine with any of them right now. The Sigma 10-20 F4-4.5 version, the Tamron 10-24 F3.5-4.5, or the Tokina 11-16 or 12-24 all should be perfectly fine for anything from beginners to experienced users.
I'd also like to see some advice for new UWA owners. I've played with mine a bit but feel like I need some tips on how to compose the best shots to take advantage of the UWA!
My basic advice - some of this may already be obvious to you, but in case others haven't learned or experimented yet...
1. Shoot level with the horizon - UWAs are very good at keeping vertical lines straight with wide shots, but only when the camera is pointed straight ahead. Any slight downward or upward angle can result in very distorted lines and strange perspectives. Which leads to...
2. Shoot unlevel with the horizon - Once you know how the lines get distorted when angling the shot, you can learn how to use it for desired effect. Distortion can be very cool if you use it intentionally.
3. Be cognizant of leading lines - with UWAs, compositions can work out very nicely when you can get long lines that are running out of the camera's frame to run out to the 4 corners of the shot, rather than in the middle - it draws the eye into or out of the scene (leads your eyes...hence leading lines!). So watch rooflines, curbs, branches, roadway edges, sidewalks, etc. that can be used for leading lines.
4. Stop down and get close - UWAs are particularly effective in putting foreground objects right up close, and still show lots of background. You can put yourself right up on top of signs, statues, lights, etc so they fill a big chunk of the frame, and the UWA will still pull in a big sweeping background like buildings, trees, or landscapes. Stopping down the aperture will allow you to get better depth of field for getting it all in focus.
5. Don't put people in the corners - If you want to keep people as your friends, watch that you don't put them into the far right or left edges of a wide shot. Most UWAs are what's known as 'rectilinear' designs - rather than being rounded throughout the shot like a fisheye, they are relatively straight throughout the middle, then drastically curve at the far ends. So things in the middle are appropriate proportions, but as you get near the ends, things stretch and get wider. It's hardly noticeable with landscapes, buildings, etc - but with people, it's VERY noticeable. And not too many people like to look wider and shorter than they are!
6. Get low - UWA compositions can be particularly effective when they are shot from a low angle - you can include much of the ground in front of you to guide you up to the subject. With a garden as a foreground, or a fountain or small pond, or the sparkly lit sidewalks at Epcot, or the signed cement blocks at DHS's Chinese Theater...all of these would be great reasons to get down low and let those be in the shot.
7. Take advantage of big skies - when the sky has clouds in it, UWAs really shine. Get close to your subject, fill 1/2 of the frame with it, and shooting with a nice sky backdrop, let those cloudy skies fill up the rest of the frame. Shooting upwards can work really well with these...the clouds take on a dimensionality, streaking out and around your subject dramatically.
Those are my basic tips for now! If you already know all this - great! If not, try it! And of course, always experiment.
