Focal lengths and different viewpoints

Friday 29th April 2011

Clumber Park, Worksop Nottinghamshire
 

1/400 F8 ISO200 Focal Length 50mm

1/500 F8 ISO200 Focal length 24mm

This picture is similar.

I was surprised at the distance I had to walk forward to take a similar picture.

The angle of the porch looks wrong in photo 2. It looks like the base of the church is wider and tapers upwards. (converging verticals)  It gives the impression that the photographer was stood closer to the church and looking upwards to get the spire in.There is less tree in photo 2.
The first photo ws taken with the telephoto lens. I then walked forward until I had a similar picture in my viewfinder.

Focal Lengths

Friday 29th April 2011

Camera mounted on a mini tripod at Clumber Park, Nottinghamshire.

These photos demonstrate that as the focal length gets longer, the angle of view gets narrower. The proportion of the church door stays the same in both pictures.

1/250 F8 ISO200 Focal Length 18mm

1/320 F8 ISO200 Focal Length 24mm

1/400 F8 ISO200 Focal Length 50mm

1/320 F8 ISO200 Focal Length 80mm

1/250 F8 ISO200 Focal Length 145mm

1/250 F8 ISO200 Focal Length 170mm

1/250 F8 ISO200 Focal Length 200mm

With my lens, there is not much difference between the pictures taken at 170mm and 200mm. As the focal length gets longer, the angle of view closes in. This means that in the first picture, There was alot of foreground and the  whole church was visible because the angle of view was wide. By the last picture, the angle of view is narrow so only the church door and a small bit of wall is visible. If the picture is looked at through a magnifying glass, it has the same relationship to similar objects.