When it comes to taking scenery shots, most photographers think of wide-angle or ultra-wide-angle shots, because the field of vision is wider and the beauty of the scenery can be expressed more completely.

It is certainly the best choice to shoot the scene with a wide-angle lens, but it is necessary to give the scenery necessary. Secondly, there must be a very clear vision center in the picture, which requires a higher level of the photographer’s composition ability, so that the awesome wide-angle scenery film can be produced.

However, not every trip will bring stunning scenery or a stunning visual center.

When meeting some very general scenery, as long as you observe, try different shooting angles, using a telephoto lens can also shoot a wonderful scene. Next, I will talk with you about the advantages of telephoto lenses for shooting scenery and the places that need to be paid attention to.

1. Advantages of telephoto lens for shooting scenery:

(1) Telephoto lenses produce more pictures

It’s good to take two photos with a wide-angle lens in the same plane. But with a telephoto lens, you can frame multiple parts. Even if it is a single position, it can also take several different scenes.

(2) Telephoto is easier to compose

A wide-angle lens contains a lot of scenery, so in composition, it is difficult to arrange them in the picture according to a certain rule.

Telephoto lenses reduce the number of elements in the picture by bringing things closer together, making composition easier.

However, when shooting with a telephoto lens, it is important to develop the habit of simulating the telephoto view with the naked eye. That is to say, seeing a scene, you can imagine the effect of using a telephoto lens. Practicing this skill is very important to improve the film yield of telephoto lenses.

(3) Telephoto lens shooting scenery more strange

The main reason why a landscape shot with a telephoto lens is compelling is that it is easy to make the landscape feel strange.

After all, we all view the landscape with the naked eye, no one is holding binoculars through the landscape. So when a good telephoto film is made, it’s like, “Was this shot here?” Questions like that.

So, as long as you can find aesthetic local scenery, the telephoto head can also be large.

(4) Shallow depth of field effect

Speaking of telephoto head, we have to say the shallow depth of field effect. It is difficult to make a large film with a shallow depth of field. Because the shallow depth of field is better at expressing aesthetic and dreamlike sense, and scenery often needs to express a deep artistic conception, the use of deep depth of field is more suitable for some.

But in some scenic areas with a messy background, the shallow depth of field effect of a telephoto lens can simplify the background and make for a decent landscape shot in a bad environment.

(5) Space compression effect

We call the perspective relationship unique to telephoto lenses space compression. When we shoot with a telephoto lens, two objects that are originally at a distance appear very close to each other. Thus forming a perspective that looks completely different from the naked eye.

(6) Beauty is always in the part

Telephoto lenses are good at capturing the local beauty of large scenes. Sometimes we can’t take the distance, using a telephoto lens can show the local details.

2. Telephoto lens to shoot scenery matters needing attention:

(1) Try to use a tripod for shooting

If the light conditions are slightly poor, and you do not want to use high sensitivity, you need to use a tripod, stable camera for shooting.

Also note that when using telephoto lenses such as the 70-200, the fast mount plate should be mounted on the lens so that the foot frame will be more stable.

(2) Remember to turn on an anti-shake when holding the camera

If you are shooting with a handheld camera and the lens is equipped with an anti-shake, turn it on. This will greatly increase your success rate with telephoto lenses. Also, be sure to note that the anti-shake function is turned off when using a tripod.

(3) Remember to lower the aperture when you need a larger depth of field

Because of the long focal length, remember to reduce the aperture if you need a larger depth of field when shooting with telephoto. Fortunately, when shooting with a telephoto lens, the focus distance is generally far, so the background clarity is guaranteed to be within the range of reception.

(4) Use a hood

Because the volume of a telephoto lens is relatively large, so many friends in the telephoto lens do not use the hood to take the hood, which is not correct behavior.

Due to the use of telephoto shooting, there are few elements in the picture, so stray light will have a great impact on the picture, and the whole picture will likely be gray because of the light at the edge of the lens.

Therefore, as long as you are shooting, always remember to wear a hood. One reason is to prevent stray lights. Another reason is to protect the lens.

3. Wrong views with telephoto lenses

There are good reasons to use telephoto lenses for landscape photography. However, it is not without some difficulties and you are bound to make some mistakes. Here are four misconceptions about photographing landscapes with telephoto lenses. Keep them in mind and improve your photography skills.

(1) Microseismic

The first mistake was “microseismic”. This is the most obvious, but also the hardest to solve. When you use telephoto lenses, you will see these jitter while holding them, and they will ruin the sharpness of the image. Fortunately, there are several ways to solve this problem.

First, put your camera on a tripod. You can use remote triggers so you don’t touch the shutter button and avoid moving the camera. You can also use a selfie timer, but be sure to use a longer timer (5 or even 10 seconds) than when shooting with a wide-angle lens. That way, you can give the camera and lens more time to settle in.

There’s another simple trick that can help you get rid of microtremors, which is especially useful on windy days: Remove the hood if you don’t need it. If you turn it on, it will give the wind more room to shake your camera.

Finally, you can open IBIS or OIS. This is usually not recommended when your camera is on a tripod, but you can also try this if there is wind and a microtremor.

(2) Slow shutter speed

When using a wide-angle lens, most photographers choose an aperture between F/11 and F/16 because they want the whole scene to be in sharp focus. But when you’re using a telephoto lens, the depth of the field is not as important.

You can further speed up the shutter speed by increasing the ISO. You don’t want to go too far, but increasing it from 100 to 400 can make a big difference in shutter speed.

(3) Excessive scaling

“Excessive scaling” means zooming in all the time when using a telephoto zoom lens. While you may be tempted to do this, I suggest you leave more breathing room around your work. This will give you a chance to reframe later and avoid regret for not leaving enough space to shoot.

(4) Soft focus

Many of us rely heavily on autofocus, and it has indeed become very advanced in most cameras and lenses. But if something is far away, the camera sometimes doesn’t focus on exactly what we want. To solve this problem, I recommend that you use autofocus on your subject and then immediately switch the camera to manual focus. Then, use the focus peak and adjust the focus to make it perfect.