Long lens landscape photography

Hi everyone,

After quite a while not taking any pictures, I've decided to go back to a long term hobby.
A while ago I sold the equipment I no longer used, and re-invested that now in a 70-200 lens.
I am now finding myself challenged to take long lens photographs, as my mind seems to be tuned to more wide angle shots .

Here is one picture I took yesterday:

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2kVm​V3b

It looks like a nice location. I agree with your own comments. A different time of day might make a difference. The reeds in the foreground nicely frame the image. But the point of view forces the stream to take up most of the real estate. I wonder if you had crouched down it might have mitigated this and made the bridge the more obvious subject. I found my eye drawn to the gray mass in the background. I have the impression that this is not what you intended and it's a distraction. I'm not sure what you could do about it.

When I travel, I always at least take a UWA, normal, and telephoto zoom. I carry them in a backpack, as I do like moving around or deciding what might be the best framing (so there's never "one" set focal length to use for a type of photography....well maybe if you know it's just going to be longer telephoto for sports/wildlife). You can probably still find some unique angle anywhere with 70-200mm. If at the time, the outdoor lighting isn't working or you can't find a "landscape" frame....you might still find something interesting at a magnified angle. You can also see about finding a subject for doing zoom blur (where you pull the zoom ring in or out while exposing). Makes for some interesting effects for showing motion.

To experiment more with this photo, you could also try some extreme post processing. It's amazing how you can change a photo by using mask layers to adjust contrast or color in just one area (maybe brighten up the darkest shadows, apply a gradient contrast on the right hand side with the tree and area of stream). That, then brightening and adjusting hue on front grass (just to keep breaking things up). To me, it's the right side that is fairly flat looking.

I used to travel with an UWA and a telephoto prime, which worked really well.
I was shooting a full frame camera at the time, and since going back to a crop camera the UWA didn't really work anymore.
So I've sold it - and the money went into the 70-200 I'm getting to grips with.
At the moment I'm trying to understand what unique angles to work with; I'm doing better with the close ups:

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2kVr​v52

I like the composition, not a fan of the different exposure from left to right. The green on the right looks good, the yellow on the left blown out.

Regarding the bridge photo, you can crop out most of the top of the bridge, maybe to just above that railing. I don't know if you were trying to keep something out of the picture, but if possible it would have been better to get the entire river in the photo, you've cut off the left side. And if you could have stood a little further to the left, you could have gotten both of those arches in the photo. It is nice light, I see the attraction of the scene.

BjornvS wrote in post #19228816
Hi everyone,

Here is one picture I took yesterday:

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2kVm​V3b 114A1895_edited by Bjorn van Steenbergen, on Flickr

Any comments are appreciated.

As for my own comments, I took the picture as I was drawn to the sunlight under the bridge.
However I think the area above the bridge is a bit cluttered, and the yellow tree to the left might be a bit distracting.

Please, consider the two cropped parts of your original landscape :

Both the guidelines of each separate composition do work.

The differents involved guidelines do - in my humble opinion, it is a personal thought - not stitch successfully together.
You are welcomed.
Regards,

Basically - in this case I needed to get even more zoomed in.
I like the first crop you did, I'll be sure to play around and see what I come up with. Thank you!

Mount Hood, Oregon

IMAGE LINK: https://mikester.smugm​ug.com …-January-2022/i-djScWxM/A

TustinMike wrote in post #19335826
Mount Hood, Oregon

IMAGE LINK: https://mikester.smugm​ug.com …-January-2022/i-djScWxM/A

I like this- the mountain is sharp and looms over the foreground.

Capn Jack wrote in post #19335960
I like this- the mountain is sharp and looms over the foreground.

Thanks, Cap'n !