Digital Home Thoughts: Photo 101 - Camera Controls

For instance, getting in close while using a widey gives a good sense of the surroundings the subject is in, since wide angles have great field of view and capture a large area of the scene, and also allows for some pretty breathtaking results.


Taken at a focal length equivalent to 20mm on a 35mm film camera. A quick reflex shot followed by a quick reflex duck to avoid getting snagged!


Taken at a focal length equivalent to 20mm on a 35mm film camera.

Conversely, since telephotos have a narrow field of view, they capture a small region of the scene, and are great at reducing background clutter.




Both photos taken at a focal length equivalent to 400mm on a 35mm film camera. By virtue of needing a telephoto for bird photography, it helps in getting rid of the usual clutter in a habitat. It can work against you though when you need to get a bird in its environment!

Also it's a great way of getting nice results of photos of your latest toys, especially if you have a messy table.


Ack, messy!


Much better. The only difference between the two was in using different focal lengths while trying to keep the magnification as close as possible.

Hmm, somehow the phone in both photos looks different. Why is that so? Well, the answer lies in the next section, where I'll discuss perspective.