I've received a few questions regarding which lenses I used the most during my recent road trip to the Desert Southwest. To view the photographs from this trip, please CLICK HERE.

During the trip, I captured 448 images which I considered to be "keepers" and which I processed. Following is the distribution of the photos by the lens:

Of course, the lens selection is correlated with the subject matter. The subject matter during much of this trip was architecture. I visited five State Capitols (Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Arizona and Illinois)--all of which called for wide lenses for the vast interiors. I also visited many Indian ruins. I chose very wide focal lengths most of the time for those locations.

I did not take photos of wildlife this time. If wildlife was a subject, the distribution would have shifted towards longer focal lengths.

I took only 12 pictures with an aperture wider than f/8! The majority of my pictures (303 of them to be exact) were shot at just two apertures--f/8 and f/9. This also relates closely to the subject matter that I concentrated on during this trip.

In case you are wondering how I compile all of this information, Lightroom makes this very efficient. I temporarily created a Collection called "Road Trip" and included all of the photos from my trip in that collection. If a photograph consists of multiple exposures, possibly due to it being a high dynamic range (HDR) image, I only include the top image so as not to skew the totals. This is accomplished by "stacking" the images--having only the finished image on top with the others filed in the stack underneath the lead photo. Once the collection is created (which took me 30 seconds), I use the metadata filter to view the photos by various attributes: aperture, lens, focal length, shutter speed, etc.

The 14-24 was a workhorse during this trip. When I first purchased the lens, I wasn't comfortable shooting at such wide focal lengths. I hardly used the lens for about six months and contemplated selling it. Finally, I forced myself to start using it...and in time I started seeing things from a wide angle perspective. As more time progressed, I found that I really enjoy how the lens allows me to create photographs that are more out of the ordinary than a "normal" focal length might offer.

I purchased the Sigma 15mm fisheye lens last year. It's a specialty lens and suitable for a very limited number of subjects. However, I am very pleased with the lens. When the right situation presents itself, there's nothing quite like the fisheye lens. I think the 29 fisheye images that I created is a good number. Some of those pictures would not have been possible if I wasn't carrying that lens. To view more photographs that I've made with the Sigma fisheye, please CLICK HERE.