Photography tips

Long focal length

Mount Pilatus surrounded by clouds in violet evening light

Key tips

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

Photographs on this topic

4 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
Winter landscape with the hotel buildings on the Bürgenstock near Lucerne 214 mm · f/25 · 1/250 s · ISO 800 View of the snowy Rigi mountain peak with transmitter tower above a dense sea of fog. 270 mm · f/8 · 1/400 s · ISO 100 Portrait of a brown bear at the Bern Bear Pit 400 mm · f/6.3 · 1/250 s · ISO 6400 A brown bear lying behind branches in the Bern bear pit 400 mm · f/6.3 · 1/500 s · ISO 6400

Related topics

  • Mountains
  • Architecture
  • Landscape
  • Light
  • Camera settings
  • Perspective
  • Composition
  • Pilatus
  • Central Switzerland
  • Lucerne
  • Evening light
  • Fog
  • Snow
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