Photographing Landscapes with Telephoto Lenses
When photographing landscapes, telephoto lenses usually end up left in the camera bag in favor of the wide angles. There’s much to like about them; the three-dimensionality, depth of field and unmatched sharpness. But for creating strong, engaging landscapes, don’t shy away from breaking out the big glass, you’ll be glad you did.
Despite what you might think, telephoto lenses are actually great for photographing landscapes. I admit that they have extremely limited depth of field, which means that you can’t shoot subjects close to the camera and expect any level of background sharpness. It’s also true that you’re limited to the two dimensionality from compressed perspective of telephoto lenses.
I can live with those limitations; long lenses give you two things that you can’t get with other lenses: power and isolation.
By using a telephoto lens to photograph landscapes, you can create strong images that show only an abbreviated portion of the scene. This lets the mind imagine the rest of the scene, and anytime you engage the viewer’s brain, you increase the impact of your image.
Telephoto lenses allow you to isolate a part of the scene
Above all, long lenses bring distant subjects up close. After all, that’s what they do best, right? If you already have striking subject matter, zooming in can give your image a sense of power that you simply won’t get with a wide angle.
Telephoto landscapes bring the subject up close and add power
So the next time you’re out shooting in nature, reach for your telephoto and make some powerful landscapes. And while you’re at it, you can also photograph some wildlife, I hear that long lenses are good for that too.
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Dan Bailey is a professional adventure, outdoor and travel photographer based in Anchorage, Alaska. Follow his own blog at danbaileyphoto.com/blog and see his daily updates at facebook.com/danbaileyphoto.
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landscape,
telephoto,
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