[matthew]

With a short lens I can reveal the hidden things near at hand, with a long lens the hidden things far away. The telephoto lens provides a new visual sensation for people: it widens their horizons.
- Andreas Feininger

Telephoto lenses make distant subjects clearly visible. This unique way of seeing is so powerful that a long lens is one of the first things most people look for in a camera. Moving beyond the simple "making it bigger" effect of a telephoto lens, there are the creative effects of perspective, control over depth of field, and isolation.

Telephoto lenses truly provide a unique perspective. Let's take the long view for this assignment, and see what we get.

[Irma]

Thanks for this assignment Matt...
Love this kind of pictures.









I lost one... I'll post it tomorrow

[matthew]

Irma, those are both lovely shots. I really like the vignetting in the first photo, and how the background colours in the second really compliment the colours of the bird.

My 35-100 telephoto took the majority of the photos on my recent trip through the American midwest. I'm really starting to appreciate the versatility of the 'old-school' 70-200 mid-zoom lens. It's one of the very few lenses that I actually use throughout its range of focal lengths.

To show the work of the river that created Zion Canyon I used a 70mm-equivalent focal length, which let me compress perspective but still allude to the size of the canyon:



For Bryce Canyon I zoomed in to 170mm-e to isolate the elements that I wanted:



Sometimes a longer lens is needed to keep the photographer out of harm's way, such as the 80mm-e I needed when I photographed a sprinkler in Wyoming:



And a 120mm-e focal length let me get close enough to some skittish wildlife:





I've actually been surprised at how many of my photos are taken with mid-to-long lenses. Since I left for Australia in July the tally is almost 4,000 photos at 35mm (70mm-e) or above versus only 1250 with my two wide-to-normal lenses. While I like the ability to compress and isolate elements, I wasn't expecting it to be so one-sided. I used to be much more of a wide-angle type.

[Irma]

Oh! Matt All are great pictures.... And I look forward to see more....

Isn't it great to have the chance of taking a lanscape like #1 and a detail #2 with the same lense? I also love my lenses for that reason...

Your landscape is great and you have a beautiful composition... and #2 is one of my faves... Love the detail of the log against the beautiful warm color... Gorgeous image that one... The tree is also beautiful... As a cat lover I have to fave the last one too... It is great.

I also have a 70-210 in my nikon and it is a great lens that gave me lots of beautiful pictures.

The funny thing here is that you inspired me so much with your architecture and wide angle pictures that I am seroiously thinking about get me the canon 24mm TS-E ....

[Wedding Shooter]

I have to agree with Irma - these are all great Matt. 2 is a real stand out.

Irma - I just bought the 24 TS-E about six weeks ago. I haven't tried it much but it is a fantastic lens.

[matthew]

Thanks Irma, WS.

You two are making me jealous. A T/S lens is one of the omissions from the Olympus/Panasonic/Leica lineups. It's one of those things that looks like it's worth picking up a new body for.

[Wedding Shooter]

My contribution from the wedding last Saturday. Shot at 35mm equivilent of about 140mm with my 70-200 on the 1D3.

[Irma]

Great addition to the assignment Chris. How far were you from the couple? A huge are of the picture looks sharp. I like that.

[Wedding Shooter]

I wasn't that far away - maybe 20metres. The DOF surprised me actually as it was shot at f4 I thought I would get a shallower DOF. I took some zoomed in more and the DOF on those is a lot less.