Epic Travel & Nature Photos with a TELEPHOTO Lens in Tuscany (VIDEO)
Here is another helpful how-to designed to give landscape photos an uncommon look. Like others we’ve posted in the past, it will enable you to capture unique images and set you on the path toward creating a style all your own.
This episode from acclaimed Danish photographer Mads Peter Iversen is all about using telephoto lenses to narrow the focus of unremarkable scenes and directing a viewer’s eyes to one essential subject. The technique works equally well with long primes lenses telephoto zooms.
Iversen is a professional landscape photographer whose remarkable images are immediately recognizable because of his eye-catching minimalist style. And as you’ll see, one secret to his success is leaving a wide-angle lens in the bag and reaching for a longer focal length instead.
In this behind-the-scenes episode you’ll watch Iversen work his magic in Tuscany, a destination he calls “a telephoto zoom lens paradise.” The advantage of a zoom, as compared to a prime, is that you can experiment with more expansive framing if the situation arises. Or you can shoot the scene wide and up close and determine which image you like best.
Iversen explains his preference like this: “Although a wide-angle lens can definitely be used, it’s the long lens in combination with great light and atmosphere that delivers the most incredible results”—especially when shooting in this beautiful (yet sparse) region of Italy.
You’ll follow Iversen as he visits several locations while explaining his techniques for this style of photography. During this excursion his two weapons of choice are a Tamron wide-to-tele 28-200mm zoom, and a longer Sony 100-400mm when more reach is required.
Along the way you’ll pick up valuable advice on composition when minimalist photos are the goal. Exposure and other camera setting can me important too, when photographing a lone subject against a bright sky—without much else in the frame to balance the light.
In other words, this approach to landscape photography is a much different challenge than when photographing conventional landscapes that often have dense foliage surrounding a primary subject and in the background. Iverson has a variety of straightforward tips and tricks for getting the job done.
After watching the 16-minute tutorial head over to Iversen’s instructional YouTube channel for a variety of lessons on photographing the great outdoors.
We also recommend watching the tutorial we posted from another pro recently, explaining a simple Photoshop technique for giving unremarkable landscape photos a soft, dreamy glow—another way to achieve photos with a unique look.
