Photography tips

Long focal length

Mount Pilatus surrounded by clouds in violet evening light

Key tips

Use a long focal length to isolate distant subjects like the mountain massif and capture them in detail.
Use a long focal length to achieve optical compression between the foreground and the background.
Use a long focal length like 400 mm to compress distant summits within the cloud layer.

Photographs on this topic

5 photographs with tips

The exact camera settings for each shot are shown below it - a starting point for recreating the look yourself. Click through to a photograph for detailed photography tips on that specific shot, under "Photography tips for this image".

All subjects Mountains Architecture Landscape Pilatus Central Switzerland Lucerne

400 mm · f/9 · 1/15 s · ISO 800

The chapel on Mount Pilatus with a view of the city of Lucerne

400 mm · f/11 · 1/800 s · ISO 500

The mountain massif of Pilatus in Central Switzerland, embedded between dense cloud layers

400 mm · f/8 · 1/640 s · ISO 125

The summit of Mount Pilatus near Lucerne in warm evening light

400 mm · f/14 · 1/200 s · ISO 1600

Red cogwheel train of the Pilatus railway traveling over a green alpine meadow with grazing cows.

400 mm · f/8 · 1/400 s · ISO 250