GO LONG FOR LANDSCAPES

Think you need a wide-angle lens to capture great landscapes? Think again! Mike Harris shows you how to take a fresh look at a scene with longer lenses

Landscape photography is often associated with sprawling vistas and beautiful panoramic imagery, but here we're breaking the rules by ditching the wide-angle lens and using a long zoom.

The 50mm focal length is generally accepted as being similar to what the human eye can see. Lenses with a focal length shorter than this are considered to be wide-angle - and they're preferred for landscapes as they can fit more of a scene onto the camera's sensor. Lenses with a focal length longer than 50mm are considered to be telephoto, but they can work brilliantly for landscapes too.

Longer lenses enable you to compress a scene so that you don't end up with barrel distortion - a common issue with wide-angle optics). Long lenses also enable you to zoom in and pick out specific details in a landscape such as a solitary tree or building - and if you shoot around the golden hour, you can play with the long shadows created by the low angle of the sun.

If you don't have a telephoto lens consider investing in one. It'll provide you with many more photographic opportunities, from snapping faraway animals to creating compressed landscapes as in this project. The 70300mm f/4.5-5.6E ED VR we're using with our Nikon DSLR typically costs less than £600/$600, and you can pick up new or secondhand lenses for less than that, whatever brand you're using.

Raring and ready to go long? Here's what you need to know.....