Wide Angle, Wide Open

Sunol Cows, a photo by Wayne-K on Flickr.

I woke up yesterday morning and thought about going for a jog around the neighborhood. I peeked out the window and decided it would be a great day for a hike instead. It was a bit overcast, which would be perfect to try out some different things with my camera. I've been meaning to experiment with my 24mm f/2.8 lens, shooting wide open. The soft, diffuse, low light would be the perfect time to shoot with a wide aperture. I also wanted to experiment with my new 81A warming filter. Sunlight is generally cooler (bluer) on cloudy days, so it was a nice opportunity to test out this filter.

I've been traveling a lot so far this year and haven't had much time to go hiking or on solo photo walks. Paisley decided to join me on my hike. I love hiking with Paisley. She's never too tired, she's always available on a moments notice, and she never turns me down. We went for a short hike around Sunol Regional Park. The weather was wonderful and we had a nice day together.

The photo above was shot with my Nikon 24mm f/2.8 lens, wide open. Nine times out of ten, I shoot my wide angle lens stopped down for greater depth of field. This is because I shoot primarily landscape scenes with my wide angle. Even wide open at f/2.8, the Nikon 24mm gets a decent amount of DOF. The cows in the background are still distinguishable. All else being equal, a wide angle lens yields more DOF than a longer focal length. In this case, I'm guessing about a stop or two more than my 50mm. I also notice a bit of light fall-off in the corners....which actually helps focus the viewer's eyes on the cows in the center of the frame.

Here are a few more photos from my hike with Paisley.