A young photographer stopped by my shop today. He wasn’t in a hurry and there wasn’t anyone else in the store so we just talked about photography. Nothing in particular, lenses cameras, full frame vs. mirrorless and different things and places he, my friend Drew and I had photographed.
I asked what his favourite subjects are and he said that he preferred scenic. He had told me he owned a 70-200mm so I asked "what other lenses do you use?'' He said he had a wide-angle kit lens, but he preferred using his 70-200mm.
After he left I was telling Drew about a YouTube video I had watched. An Olympus EM-5 mk2 had come into the shop and I wanted to check out the reviews before I put it out for sale.
The presenter, Guido Van De Water, didn’t talk about that EM-5, but he did do a good discussion on the lenses he liked using. He says that he mostly does “Long lens telephoto landscape photography” and the images he showed were real crowd stoppers. He is so good.
He talked about his favourite Olympus lenses; a 100-400mm, a 300mm and one that Olympus loaned to him, a 150-400mm. I really enjoyed his discussion and thought about it after that photographer that stopped at my shop to talk about photography.
Some time ago I wrote an article titled What is the Best Lens for Scenics?. I discussed using different focal lengths, depth of field and perspective. However, I left the answer as to focal length to photographers.
My opinion then, as now, is that it really depends on what a photographer wants to visually say. Personally I like lenses that offer lots of focal length choices that will allow me to include only whatever I want in a picture.
I remember selling an 80-400mm lens and talked with the new owner about what he intended to photograph with his new lens. I assumed he was into wildlife photography, but as we stood in my shop talking he mentioned that he would be going on a bit of a hike this next weekend and hoped to get some pictures of bighorn sheep, but quickly said, “ But I am mostly into scenics”.
Many photographers are of the opinion that scenic photography is only about a wide landscape and needs to be as much of a panorama as possible, and select wide-angle lenses as they trudge into the wilderness. They aren’t as interested in what elements make up the scene they capture as to what the overall view is. That said; I know there are photographers like the YouTube presenter, Guido Van De Water and the fellow who bought that 80-400mm lens that have discovered how to build exciting scenics with telephoto lenses.
A wide-angle lens has a curved front surface allowing for a wider view. The distance between the foreground and background subjects will seem extended, and objects closer to the lens will look much bigger in relation to those in the background. Whereas, with long-focal-length lens like a 200mm or even a 400mm all the elements will be compressed and as magnification is increased depth of field is reduced, and in the final image no one subject in the photograph gains significance over another.
Maybe it’s the compressed effect that sometimes makes telephoto lens scenic photographs stand out. I think photographs with long focal length lenses are dependent on how things front to back are placed. I don’t believe that every scenic photograph needs to be a wide landscape.
The majority of successful scenic images are those that were photographed from the most interesting view, or where one sets the camera for the most pleasing perspective. With that my challenge to readers is, why not try the longest focal length lens you have, and take the time to move the viewfinder around to fill the frame while maintaining all the rules of composition?
Stay safe and be creative. These are my thoughts for this week. Contact me at www.enmanscamera.com or emcam@telus.net.
