Finally, I will reopen my shop in July. Most of the small stores on the street where I have mine should be opening then and it’s possible people will be cautiously venturing out.
It will be good to talk face to face with photographers again, but although I have been staying way from people I haven’t been so isolated that I haven’t been keeping in touch with those that are as keen about photography as I am.
This past week I talked with two photographers that are making their final decisions about new lenses. (Well, not talked. We exchanged Facebook messages) Both are interested in scenic photography and are intent on getting new lenses that will make their landscape photos fun and creative.
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. I regularly use my 24-70 and 28-300mm, because 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. My discussion with the new owner was mostly about the lens’ functions; its ability to produce sharp images, and how the vibration reduction mode easily allowed hand holding. What we hadn’t talked about was 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 do know there are photographers like the fellow who bought the 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, depth of field reduced, and in the final image no one subject in the photograph gains significance over another.
Maybe it’s the compressed effect that makes scenic photographs made with telephoto lenses sometimes 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. I do, however, believe that successful scenic photographs need to say something and follow the rules of composition.
Using a 200mm, 300mm or 400mm telephoto lens forces one to slow down, and think how the image is composed. I am not saying that we can’t do that with a wide-angle lens, only that it is harder with a tight, cropped, limiting view from a telephoto lens.
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.
