Outdoor Photography How To

It might seem counterintuitive, but you should really try using a telephoto lens to shoot landscape photos rather than just a wide-angle lens. We've discussed reasons why you should use a telephoto for landscapes in our own video in the past. Now photographer and software expert Alex Armitage has produced his own video with "5 tips for shooting telephoto landscape photography."

"It might not be obvious how important a telephoto lens is in landscape photography especially when you're just starting out," Armitage says. "It's very reasonable that the first lens most people gravitate towards when diving into landscape photography is going to be a wide-angle lens simply because it intuitively captures the entire landscape in front of you. Recently though I've been shooting more and more with my telephoto lens than even my wide-angle lens and I want to dive into why that is while also going through a few tips when shooting with a telephoto lens, whether you're just getting one now or you're looking into buying one for the first time. "

#1 Get a Sturdy Tripod
"If you've been shooting wide-angle and getting away with a somewhat or low-quality tripod, it's just not going to cut it with a telephoto lens," he explains. "Not only is a telephoto going to be significantly heavier but the further you zoom in and have a deeper focal distance, the more every little movement from wind or vibration is going to show up."

#2 Use a 2-Second Timer or Shutter Release
"If your shutter speed is really long, we're talking quarter of a second or longer, you're probably going to want to use even a five to 10-second timer if you don't have a shutter release cable. This is going to help reduce the vibrations caused by your hands being on the camera when you take the photo and take it off."

#3 Use a Polarizer
"Many times, you're going to find yourself far away from your compositions or your subject matter and that means you're going to encounter haze and one of the best ways to remove some of that haze from your images is by using a polarizer."

#4 Check Your Critical Focus
"You should, of course, do this with all your photos but it is especially important for telephoto shots because the focal plane is going to be much smaller than what you might be used to with a wide-angle lens."

#5 Don't Overthink It
"Just have fun shooting telephoto shots. Take the camera off the tripod if you have plenty of light and don't worry about everything I just mentioned."

After you watch the video, go check out Armitage's channel to see all of his photography tips and tutorials.