Most individuals suppose that you just want a large lens for photographing landscapes. I believed this when beginning out in pictures. I even keep in mind looking for “can 50mm be used for landscapes?” earlier than I purchased my first digital camera. These days, I consider a 50mm lens as an ultra-wide! I normally desire longer lenses for landscapes. And on this article, I’ll offer you six suggestions for taking higher panorama pictures with a protracted lens.
Why Shoot Landscapes With a Longer Lens?
You may be asking, why use a 300mm lens or perhaps a 500mm lens for landscapes? It’s a unique perspective, in fact! Shorter focal lengths help you characterize your entire scene, whereas longer lenses encourage you to extra simply select a tiny piece of it that actually resonates with you.
That doesn’t imply you could use unusual focal lengths to realize resonant pictures, in fact. However since so many landscapes are taken with huge focal lengths, it would help you break away and experiment with uncommon and new methods of issues.
Lengthy-lens landscapes give an exquisite, isolating, virtually targeted look. They don’t present as a lot context and are extra dreamy. Sounds good, proper? So, listed below are my tricks to begin out with this fascinating model of panorama pictures.
1. Search for Repeating Patterns
Spencer wrote a neat article just lately about capturing landscapes with the brand new Sony FE 400-800mm f/6.3-8 G, and he took this one at 400mm:
His photograph properly reveals how a protracted lens can deliver out the pure repeating sample tucked away in a comfy panorama. As a bonus, you’ll be able to see little particulars extra simply within the forest, just like the fallen lengthy close to the bottom-right.
Are you able to try this with a shorter focal size like 50mm? Possibly generally, however usually not. Certainly, longer lenses will provide you with a narrower perspective and help you get these fascinating patterns within the body. May Spencer have gotten this framing with a wider lens? He advised me, “It will have been not possible. These aspens had been midway up a distant hill. Even with a drone or some good method to get nearer with a 50mm lens, the angle would have seemed very totally different – not practically as flattened and fewer of a uniform sample.”
2. Use a Tripod
I’m not a fan of tripods for chicken pictures. However, in relation to lengthy lens landscapes, I like utilizing a tripod. Since extra stuff will normally be in focus with a protracted lens landscapes, there’s much less margin for error. Plus, most landscapes don’t fly away, so there’s no purpose to fret about taking just a little additional time with the tripod.
In truth, for the next intimate panorama shot of grass, I don’t suppose I’d have been in a position to get it with out utilizing a tripod, as a result of I actually wanted to watch the swaying grass and shoot on the proper time.
3. Attempt Uncommon Places
Though it’s not an absolute, wider lenses are good when you’ve many fascinating, harmonious components in entrance of you. Then again, longer-lens landscapes can work effectively even when half the panorama is a wasteland, as unlucky as wastelands are.
My present “native patch” is a kind of locations that doesn’t look that nice with huge lenses, a minimum of within the context of taking huge views. Nonetheless, there are small patches that look fairly lovely when remoted. So, strive some uncommon places that may not be typical for panorama pictures. You may be stunned!
4. Search for Foreground Components
As a result of compression impact of lengthy lenses, you’ll be able to incorporate fascinating components in your photograph that merely aren’t doable with a large lens. Let’s check out the next photograph:
There are some out-of-focus bushes within the foreground that I used to border my topic. With a wide-angle lens, not solely would the moon have been a lot smaller, however the bushes wouldn’t have been as gentle and dreamy. Foreground components aren’t simply restricted to wide-angle pictures.
5. Welcome Shallow Depth of Discipline
You possibly can positively get a shallow depth of discipline panorama with a wider lens. Nonetheless, the impact won’t be so noticeable, and due to this fact it takes a bit extra work to make the shallow depth of discipline sufficiently outstanding.
Lengthy lenses, as a consequence of their magnification, make the shallow depth of discipline impact extra outstanding, and so you’ll be able to incorporate it extra simply into your landscapes. On this context, consider long-lens landscapes as a portrait of a personality in a bigger panorama.
6. Be careful for Warmth Distortion
Lengthy lenses enlarge, which generally is a good factor in the event you’re photographing one thing like birds. Sadly, that additionally means the results of warmth distortion are magnified. In comparison with chicken pictures, it’s even worse in panorama pictures as a result of the panorama components are normally farther away than with chicken pictures.
There’s nothing you’ll be able to actually do about warmth distortion if it’s round, besides strive taking a couple of photograph and selecting the sharpest later. Or perhaps cry. Or {photograph} nearer topics like birds. Or no matter.
Conclusion
I like lengthy lens landscapes. That’s to not say that I keep away from wider focal lengths utterly, however my go-to focal lengths for landscapes are sometimes 300mm and longer. They might not grow to be your main software, however I feel they’re instruments that each panorama photographer ought to have… on the very least, for instances when that 20mm lens simply doesn’t give the best feeling!
So, what’s the reply to my naïve question of whether or not 50mm can be utilized for landscapes? The proper reply is that any lens can be utilized for landscapes, if it permits you to talk one thing you noticed and resonated with within the discipline.