Lesson #11: Using Telephoto lenses


Telephoto lenses bring the subject closer and magnify the scene. The most common use of longer focal length lenses is shooting subjects that are farther away so that they don't look too small in the frame. I like to place telephoto lenses into two categories, short and long, as they each add a unique look to your images.

Short telephotos, in the range of 70mm-135mm, are the ideal lenses for portraits because they slightly compress the relative perspective of the facial features in a pleasing way. They have a shallow depth of field, which allows you to blur the background and isolate your subject so that it is well defined against a gentle wash of color. They also have a comfortable working distance which helps to put your subjects at ease and makes it a great "across-the-street-lens" for shooting candids. You can be at safe distance from someone and capture them without them being aware or without you being intrusive.

Short telephotos are good landscapes lenses, as well. They allow you to isolate subjects from the rest of the scene and feature one or more important elements in your images rather than just showing the entire scene.
   
Long Telephoto lenses (135mm & up) bring you subjects even closer and add more compression to your scene. They allow you to shoot far away subjects and thus are good for wildlife, sports, and anything that is difficult to shoot up close. They allow you to isolate your subjects even more with a very shallow depth of field and create images that show the specific details of the scene. The extreme compression and shallow depth of field effects of a long lens will really let you bring the background forward and make it a dominating backdrop behind your subjects. (A hiker in front of a mountain, for example.)

When using telephoto lenses, your photographs become more about your subject directly, rather than how it relates to it's surroundings, although sometimes it's very effective to include a second, out of focus element in the background.