Things To Know Before Shooting With a Telephoto Lens

The thought of capturing stories through a telephoto lens is intimidating without experience or knowledge. Once you get the hang of optimizing your camera, you will realize how easy and effective these lens options are.

Through mastering several techniques, you can shoot breathtaking, captivating, and noteworthy moments for all types of work. Here, we explain several things you should know before shooting with a telephoto lens that will enhance your skill set and help you capture and deliver quality work.

Use a Tripod to Your Advantage

The truth is that all telephoto lenses are heavy and long compared to others. The result? You will shake or have a less steady hand, and the natural size of the lens will magnify any positional instabilities. Using a tripod can provide a sturdy lens field and mitigate the effects of the lens size.

Many argue that tripods aren’t conducive for hauling or flexibility, but it’s essential to remember the outcomes are subject to a range of flaws without stability. If the subject’s environment has a secure ledge to take advantage of, you can use this to do the same thing. But not every location is perfect, and providing your own equipment is vital.

Shutter Release Is Your Friend

In addition to the support a tripod will provide, consider investing in a shutter release. A shutter release will help you shoot photos without physically clicking the capture button.

So why is a shutter release vital in your camera kit? A telephoto lens is heavy and increases the shakiness in the frame. Luckily, you can reduce in-frame vibration by attaching a shutter release and pairing it with optimal camera settings.

However, there are instances where a shutter release is not ideal. This includes wildlife with fast-moving subjects or fast-paced sports. These will require you to use your finger for manual capture and be at the ready. A shutter release is optimal for point-and-shoot scenarios, such as landscape photography or low-motion scenarios.

Frame Subjects Tightly

An appealing and unique feature of shooting with a telephoto lens is that it allows you to get considerably close to the subjects. This can create stunning and detailed photos.

One of the upsides to capturing landscapes and wildlife is the ability to showcase the ornate details of organic matter and bring them into focus. Generally, these types of settings include many fine details that you can’t see otherwise.

Isolate the Subjects

Another valuable piece of knowledge before you begin shooting is isolating your subjects. This is similar to tightly framing subjects, but you will isolate an individual characteristic or feature of the setting and allow them to stand out amongst their surroundings.

A few relevant questions to ask yourself to best isolate objects include:

• What do I care most about in this frame?
• What important features do I want to show the most?
• What is most captivating about this subject?

The ability to answer these questions can help you make the most suitable decisions around that particular frame and isolate the most appropriate subjects.

Bring Near and Far Closer Together

Bringing multiple subjects to the same depth field is an excellent way to enhance the scene. A primary example of bringing objects near and far closer together is if you have a person and a tree in the same frame. The person will go near the tree, and the tree will draw closer to the person. This puts both subjects on the same plane, appearing at the same depth field.

These results are graphic and stunning and typically less realistic. So this feature doesn’t work for everyone, but it’s worth practicing to optimize your camera and skills.

Optimize the Depth Field for Background Effects

With the ability to get close to the subject, you can effectively decrease or minimize the overall field depth. A key thing to note for this is to ensure the subject and background are at a fair distance from one another. The subject will have laser focus while the background will have the blurring effect. When done right, these image outcomes are clean and enticing.

Macro Photography

Macro photography is the idea of capturing smaller subjects and bringing them to focus so that they’re larger or more prominent. Some say this is distortion or optical illusion, but the results are interesting and artistic. Using a telephoto lens to shoot macro photography is optimal because of the ability to bring small details into focus and capture ornate intricacies of ordinary subjects.

Sometimes photographers struggle to bring the subjects into focus at the ideal depth. A solution is to attach extension tubes that enable you to bring things in close without the risk of altering the image’s quality.

Photograph Actions Using Pan

Capturing actions or fast-paced moments is difficult regardless of the lens and camera. This takes skill and patience to master. But if you use panning, it’s easier to capture moving subjects. The pan feature will assist you in capturing the ideal image focus for the moving subject and enable you to remain in sync with the motion.

Another unique way to capture quality work with panning is to reduce the shutter speed. This will sharpen the subject in focus and blur the rest. Not everyone prefers this method, but it’s an artistic point of view.

Play Around With Astrophotography

One of the unique things about a telephoto lens you should know about is the length is a blessing to the subject matter in your portfolio. Using your lens as a lower-grade telescope to capture breathtaking images of various astrology subjects can give you an edge over other photographers in the field.

Optimize your lens as a telescope so that your subject matter range expands beyond the moon and stars, but ensure you have a suitable tripod for this function. Your camera’s stability when capturing astrophotography is dependent on your ability to remain still. Consider the support of a tripod to optimize this process.

Wrapping Up

It’s a big decision to add new features to your camera kit. Consider the Samyang Nikon mount when you’re ready to capture professional-grade telephoto images. Reach out to Samyang US today to learn more!