articles/Landscape/tools-of-the-land-page2

Tool of the Land - Landscape - part 2 of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

by Mike McNamee Published 01/08/2015

In terms of focal length there are a couple of sayings which hold true even today. The first is that the best focal length for landscape is 90mm. The second is that the best view of a mountain is from halfway up the one opposite. There are contradictory views to this, of course, one of which says that the best lends is the one in your bag, rather than the one you always leave behind in the hotel/car/campervan! It all depends upon the foreground detail available; if there are interesting boulders or rock pools then that is a quite different scenario to a high mountain pass with nothing but air right in front of you. If, however, the foreground is good then you might want to explore this at different focal lengths to change the relative scale of the rocks in front of you. One reason that 90mmis favoured is because the restriction of content creates a simpler image.

Users of 24mm tilt/shift lenses tend to produce the same style of picture which concentrates heavily and relies upon interesting foreground shapes and detail. Their work is often allied to Lee Filters, Big Stoppers and huge tripods. If the sea is also involved then you must be prepared to get your feet into water and that goes for the tripod's legs as well. Tilt/shift lenses are expensive and many people will only have one, most frequently the 24mm. Overall the use of lenses such as this pushes the user to a slower and more considered approach to their composition. A tripod is a must.

The juggling of lens options is a game for a wet January evening. If you look at the table for street prices of Nikkors you will see that you can have 20, 35, 50 and 85mm lenses for the same outlay as a 14-24mm f2.8 Nikkor with a marginal weight penalty. Or you can follow the writer and purchase both the 24-70mm f2.8 and the 14-24mm f2.8 and always leave the 14-24mm behind to save lugging it up a mountain!

• Tool of the Land - Landscape page 1
  
• Tool of the Land - Landscape page 2
  
• Tool of the Land - Landscape page 3
  
• Tool of the Land - Landscape page 4
  
• Tool of the Land - Landscape page 5
  
• Tool of the Land - Landscape page 6
  
• Tool of the Land - Landscape page 7
  
• Tool of the Land - Landscape page 8
  

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