Wide angle lenses
Can be described as lenses with focal lengths under 50mm; this includes the lower focal range of a kit lens.
It's also worth keeping in mind that all phone cameras by default are set to wide angle.
These are commonly used so that one can stand still and 'zoom out' to fit more in their frame however doing so can have visual drawbacks.
If your position and subject are not chosen wisely it can often appear that all the interest is along the middle of the image, with details being overlooked and leaving much of the frame boring or empty.
It's also worth keeping in mind that all phone cameras by default are set to wide angle.
These are commonly used so that one can stand still and 'zoom out' to fit more in their frame however doing so can have visual drawbacks.
If your position and subject are not chosen wisely it can often appear that all the interest is along the middle of the image, with details being overlooked and leaving much of the frame boring or empty.
Distances and sizes get heavily distorted at wide angle
As might be expected, in many ways wide angle lenses give the opposite effect to telephoto lenses, read about them here. Wide angle lenses exaggerate distances, making paths or gaps look longer, they make things close to the camera seem unnaturally large and shrink anything further away.
Many of us are familiar with how wide angle views are used in estate agencies to make rooms look bigger:
It can be tricky to use wide angle lenses and avoid distortion of straight lines.
