I have written on this topic a few times before. The reason I keep on repeating it is to get you away from thinking that wide angles are simply there to include more into your image. What I really want you to be looking for is to use your wide angle lens to create amazing perspectives. I want to encourage you to use a wide angle and then to get really, really close to something.

Other than the storm clouds this is an image of basically nothing. If most people were to walk there they would never see this image and they would think that there is nothing to shoot. We have sand with with no interesting dunes, or lines, or such. There are grasses but no patterns and anything interesting presents itself. As I have said before, when you are confronted with such a scene look for something that is different, something that stands out. After some looking and walking around I found this tiny bush of Verbena. Next I look at the clouds and choose where they are the most interesting. With a wide angle I now go right up to the plant and I make this image. The wide angle and closeness to the plant makes it look much larger and more prominent in the image than what it was in the scene. If you were there you may not even have noticed it, it was insignificant. Yet, the wide angle and closeness gave it prominence.

Go ahead, try this technique and see what you come up with. You may just find that it gives you images you would never otherwise have had.