Zeiss 18mm f/3.5 Classic Lens Sample Pictures

Shadows play with a coconut in Trunk Bay, St John, US Virgin Islands.

Using a wide angle lens and moving in close to the foreground rocks results in a pleasing perspective of Shawnee Falls, Ricketts Glen State Park. To keep everything in focus, a narrow aperture is needed. A narrow aperture used in the shade results in a long exposure. And an exposure this long means a tripod is necessary.

A Southern Stingray swims through a dense school of small fish in Maho Bay, St. John, Virgins Island National Park.

Shadow-filled fox tracks in the sand along with wind designs provide content for this Island Beach State Park, NJ picture.

No, I was not driving. Just wanted to get that straight
 
This yacht was torn from its mooring during the fall 2010 tropical storm that hit St. John with an exceptional amount of rain. The 18mm focal length gives the shipwrecked yacht a pleasing (to me at least) perspective.

This small waterfall is found deep in the woods of Worlds End State Park in Pennsylvania. A cloudy day is often preferred for deep woods photography - the lack of direct sunlight avoids the hotspots typically found in similar pictures taken on a sunny day. I was shooting in the rain during some of this hike.

Just because you are using a wide angle lens does not mean that you have to frame the big picture. Move in to capture the details with a unique perspective. In this picture, I avoided lines intersecting the edge of the frame as much as possible and kept the top of the windows parallel with the top edge of the frame.

Water flows over a rounded flat rock in Ricketts Glen State Park.

Shadows (and a coconut) create a great foreground for early-mid-morning photography at Trunk Bay, St. John, US Virgin Islands National Park. Clouds of course are key to great skies - and clouds also interfere with shadows. I spent a lot of time waiting for the right cloud setup for this picture. Keeping my own shadow out of the frame was another challenge for this shot.

Harrison Wright Falls is one of my favorites out of the 22 named Ricketts Glen State Park waterfalls. This shots was taken very late in the day during an especially high waterflow.

Large palms create large shadows over the beach at Maho Bay, St. John during mid-day. Use shadows to create an interesting foreground.

Shawnee Falls is another of my favorite Ricketts Glen State Park water falls (I have many favorites). This falls offers a variety of compositions. I'm out on a rock ledge for this shot.
 
Those planning a trip to Ricketts Glen State Park need to be aware that the terrain in the falls area is not like a walk in the park. Though the trails are well maintained, there are many opportunities for fatal falls from slippery rock throughout the rather steep Ganoga Glen and Glen Leigh Trails. If hiking these two trails by the falls (highly recommended) as well as below the Waters Meet area, be prepared for 3-7 miles of hiking with lots of elevation change. A flashlight (and perhaps a spare) are required if coming out after sunset. And the sun sets very quickly in these deep ravines.

A tower rises into the sky at the Annaberg Sugar Mill Ruins, Virgin Islands National Park, St. John.

A long exposure emphasizes the circular flow of the water in this picture. Ricketts Glen State Park, near Benton, PA offers endless compositions for the landscape photographer.

Tree shadows surround a coconut on the beach at Trunk Bay, St. John.

Shooting in the deep Ricketts Glen State Park ravines is best without direct sunlight. Early or late in the day work well or - to maximize your shooting time - select a cloudy day.

A fox and a pair of gulls left their tracks in the sand on Island Beach State Park, NJ. Because of the high winds, I increased the ISO setting to 200 to allow adequate image brightness at a 1/160 second exposure.

The Great Cruz Bay Dock at the Westin Resort provides converging lines while the light poles provide layers. Landscaping balances the bottom of the composition and a long, dark cloud balances the left-most black light pole.

R.B. Ricketts Falls is a 36' waterfall near the Glen Leigh Trail in Ricketts Glen State Park.

The Virgin Islands National Park Visitors Center architecture provides lot of photo opportunities. Lines going through the top or bottom of this composition have been nearly completely avoided, but strong lines run throughout the picture. Some mustache-type distortion can be seen in the top right rain gutter.

Jagged rocks base this house and pool picture. The light in the sky is the moon.

Beautiful green tropical foliage curves over Leinster Bay, St. John.

A small waterfall flows into a cold, clear pool. Photography can be especially time consuming when exposures take 25 seconds and the long exposure noise reduction takes another 25 seconds.

The Virgin Islands National Park Visitors Center entrance as seen from a wide angle lens at a low position.

Waterfalls are often photographed from the bottom, but don't ignore the looking-down composition possibilities. This view is looking down the 41' Huron Falls in Ricketts Glen State Park.

A large log remains cantilevered over Huron Falls in Ricketts Glen State Park. We are our worst enemy at this park - keeping other photographers out of the frame can be difficult on weekends during peak park traffic times.

The F.L. Ricketts Falls (Ricketts Glen State Park) is the second named falls discovered while descending the Glen Leigh Trail.

When a straight line parallels the border of the frame, care must be taken if the line is to perfectly parallel the border. Any lens distortion present makes this task more difficult.