When I bought my first mirrorless lens, the Sony a6000, I was excited to also buy a used telephoto lens, the Sony 70- 350mm from Camera Traders in Victoria. I believed I would be taking great landscape shots, with the distant mountains sharp and crisp.
This is what emerged:
f/11 at 126 mm 1/4000 sec ISO 2000
These settings indicate the rudimentary knowledge I had regarding landscape photography in September 2023.
I continued gamely on but somehow my images were never satisfactory, either through haze, poor focusing or……….? It was clear I did not really understand this lens at all. Good shots were more by luck than judgement.
In a previous blog post I had written of how the aperture setting impacted depth of field (DOF). I knew that setting the aperture between f 11-16 meant the whole scene would be in focus. A narrow DOF would compromise image quality. A wider aperture would create bokeh.
What I had not understood was how zooming in or out, i.e the focal length chosen, affected depth of field. I was concentrating too much on getting the subject sharp by setting the aperture.
It was not until a helpful forum administrator on A Year With My Camera Course simply mentioned how focus length also impacts image quality that I realized what I should be learning more about. I had assumed if I kept zooming in my shots would be clearer. Not so as I discovered! What they told me was a 70-350 lens won’t give me as great as DOF as a 35 mm. In other words, because I was thinking zooming in with a longer focal length would make my images sharper the opposite was happening- shorter DOF, and more blurry photos.!! The shorter the focal length, the more depth of field you get, the longer the focal length the shorter DOF.
I took this image in January 2024:
f/10 at 139 mm 1/320 sec, ISO 125, Not perfect, but an improvement
Having explored this online I found these useful resources:
This was useful as the author shows landscape photographs taken at the whole range of focal lengths from 12mm to 800mm. Seeing the DOF and the compositions clarified the different images the different focal lengths can achieve. I noted his favorite focal lengths were 35 mm and 200mm.
This is a great tool to understand the relationship between aperture, focal length and distance between the camera and subject. You manipulate the settings and see how this affects the image. You can choose a full frame or APSC sensor and select different types of scenes. You can even choose your camera body!
I have recently noted that experienced photographers recommend that you work towards using a telephoto zoom lens, and with hindsight I realize this is a good advice. It is no coincidence my favorite lens to date has been the Sigma 30mm 1.4 prime lens.
In my research into focal length and landscape photography I have come across something called the Circle of Confusion that you can use to figure out settings to get the DOF you are looking for- but I think I will leave that for another day!
Initially there is so much to learn in photography and keeping some things like focal length fixed (using a prime) can be very helpful as you’ve indicated. I love the progress you’ve seen in your images