[R134] 🥾 Stop Using Wide Angles for Everything

Sometimes the strongest landscapes are found by excluding, not including. (my favourite quote this week) Hello Hello 👋 Quick Catch-Up From Last Week From the JustDraft about GROW Coaching Framework Read our LensLetter Archive about Adobe All-In-One Subscription. Remember when you thought landscape photography = wide-angle lens? Yeah, me too. I spent years believing that 16mm was the only "real" focal length for landscapes. When Canon launched the RF system, I picked up the R6 with a 70-200mm. Not because I wanted a telephoto, RF wide-angles simply didn't exist yet. Even after they released the 15-35mm, Endless waiting lists. Since then everything changed. Here's what nobody tells you about long lens landscapes: They're not just different, they're liberating. While everyone's fighting for space at the overlook with their ultra-wides, you're standing back, picking out tiny pieces of magic that others walk right past. You can of course pano or make wide angle in post with stitching. Your lens doesn't capture landscapes. It translates how you choose to see them. Let me share what I've learned: Hunt for Patterns That Hide in Plain Sight Long lenses are pattern detectors. That forest that looks chaotic at 24mm? At 200mm (or 320 with 1.6 crop), you'll suddenly see the rhythm - repeating tree trunks, layers of ridges, waves of grass moving together. The compression effect stacks elements in ways that feel almost abstract. It's like pulling out a single instrument from an orchestra and finally hearing its melody. Try this: Next time you're at a location, scan the scene through your longest lens first. You'll spot compositions you'd never see otherwise. Use a Tripod (Even in Daylight) I know, I know. Tripods feel slow and clunky. But here's the thing - landscapes don't fly away. With long lenses, even tiny movements get amplified. That slight camera shake you'd never notice at 35mm? At 200mm, it turns your photo into abstract art (and not the good kind). Plus, a tripod forces you to slow down. To really observe. To wait for that perfect moment when the wind pauses and everything aligns. I've captured my best intimate landscapes - swaying grass, delicate branches, subtle light, because the tripod let me watch and wait. (But still don’t like tripod) Shoot Where Others Don’t Here's a secret: Long lenses make "boring" locations interesting. That random patch of woods near your house? The field by the highway? The messy riverbank? They're all hiding intimate landscapes. You just need the right tool to isolate them. While wide-angle landscapes need grand, pristine scenes, long lens work thrives on finding small pockets of beauty anywhere. One interesting tree, a patch of fog, some backlit grass - that's all you need. Wide lenses document the world. Long lenses help you discover what you actually care about in it. Play With Shallow Depth of Field This is where long lenses truly shine. That shallow depth of field everyone loves in portraits? It works magic on landscapes too. Use foreground elements - branches, grass, leaves, as soft frames. Let them go beautifully out of focus while your subject stays sharp. The compression effect makes this dreamy quality more pronounced than you'd ever get with a wide lens. Think of it as creating a portrait of a landscape character, not documenting an entire scene. Watch Out for The Heat Distortion Problem Long lenses magnify everything. Including problems. Heat distortion gets worse as focal length increases. That shimmer you barely notice at 50mm becomes image-ruining at 500mm. And landscape subjects are usually farther away than wildlife, which makes it even worse. Solutions that actually work: Shoot in early morning or evening when it's cooler Take multiple shots and pick the sharpest Focus on closer subjects when heat is bad Accept it as part of the long lens character (sometimes the softness adds mood) Zooming in isn’t about distance - it’s about decision. Bonus Tip: Start With What You Have Don't think you need a giant 600mm lens to try this. Start with whatever's your longest lens—even if it's "just" a 70-200mm or an 85mm prime. The principles are the same. You're learning to see smaller, to isolate, to compress. The focal length matters less than the mindset shift. Here's what I want you to remember: Every lens can photograph landscapes. The question isn't "can I?" but "what will this lens help me say?" Your 200mm isn't wrong for landscapes. It's just saying something different than your 16mm. Both are valid voices in your creative vocabulary. This week, I challenge you, grab your longest lens and go find something beautiful in the overlooked corners of your world. You'll surprise yourself. A good landscape doesn’t show everything, only what matters. 🟢 Until the next one, Keep chasing horizons, one frame at a time and let's be mindful of our environment. Cheers!! 🍾 Photo of the week For Print of any photos please reply here with photo link/url. [caption id="attachment_3864" align="alignnone" width="2048"] Image From Dolomites, Italy | All Rights Reserved | Photo by RGWords[/caption] Planning Trip, Check 🔻 [product_category category="itinerary,checklist"] A quick personal update first - 🚀 The Clarity Playbook is now live! 📘 It’s our debut book, a 91-page guide for busy professionals to think better, decide faster, and lead with clarity. Packed with 7 high-leverage frameworks used in global boardrooms, it’s built to help you act with focus today. 👉 Read more here or check online marketplace Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon India | Amazon Japan | Google Play Books | Apple Books | Barnes & Noble | Rakuten Kobo | Everand (Scribd) | Smashwords | Thalia (Germany) | Vivlio (France) | Fable | Buy Directly Other fun stuff ✔️ New prints are available in the shop, check it out . ✔️ Rahul's Newsletter - Learning & Sharing Concepts Beyond Text Books. The JustDraft is a free newsletter to receive ideas shared with 2400+ people each week directly to your inbox. Join now to start practising change. ✔️ Buy Ready To Use Itineraries - Hand curated travel plans, maps, guides, photo editing presets and many more. ✔️ UK Weekender - Wondering where to go next weekend. Join Weekender and receive travel insights from the UK, epic photography spots every week in your inbox. Here are the tools I found interesting in last few weeks and still exploring Magnific is an AI-powered image upscaler and enhancer that allows users to increase the resolution and detail of any image. It can also add more details by increasing its "Creativity" slider. Pixelcut's AI Photo Shoot tool is a virtual photo studio that allows users to quickly and easily create professional-quality product photos with AI-generated backgrounds. Descript makes editing video and audio as easy as editing text. Record, transcribe, edit, and publish in one tool. Product update/offer In this section, I share any cool new product, feature released in past few weeks or newsletter subscriber only offers Luminar Neo Cross-device Perpetual license (Luminar Neo + Luminar Mobile) [Offer for you] Epidemic Sound introduced Sync to video - Cool feature if you want to quickly make video with great sound collection. Popular posts in the blog Adobe Lightroom vs Photoshop which one is better Master Light in Landscape Photography: Golden Hour, Blue Hour Best Place to See Cherry Blossom and Enjoy Spring in Japan Top free things to do in Tokyo Recommended cameras in 2025 for landscape photography

[R134] 🥾 Stop Using Wide Angles for Everything

RG

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