What Telephoto Lenses Really Do

As an amateur photographer, I have been able to borrow and shoot with a variety of telephoto lenses. Telephoto lenses allow for awesome opportunities within photography, opportunities only capable with these lenses. I have been doing research on telephoto lenses and the lens I have put on my wish list is the Sigma 150-600mm. This lens is not the finest by all means, but as a college student it will have to do. Imaging Resource put out an excellent article regarding the opportunities a telephoto lens has to offer.

The two most common uses of a telephoto lens would be to put backgrounds out of focus and to change the perspective of the picture. To help with making sure the background is out of focus, you want to use your largest aperture, use the longest lens you have, and get as close as you can to your subject to fill the frame. Depending on what is your longest lens, you can make backgrounds look closer to your subjects than they really are.

To change the perspective of a picture with a telephoto lens, you want to position your subject against the background and then use the longest lens you have to compose the picture. Using a large aperture may actually put the background out of focus too much and using a smaller aperture may force you to use a shutter speed that will be difficult to hand hold without camera shake.