Landscape photography tip: zoom with your feet and your lens

Saturday 5 December 2020, 20:02 by Nando Harmsen | 4,709 views | 1 comment

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

Zooming with your feet is often mentioned as an alternative to zooming with a lens. But that is not correct, they are two completely different things. So why not use both? This way, you can get the photo exactly as you want it.

You know the saying, a photographer using a prime lens has to zoom with their feet. If that photographer wants to get something larger in the frame, they will have to move closer to the subject. To get the subject smaller in the frame, they have to increase the distance.

This means that you have to change the distance to your subject when using a fixed focal length. Someone with a zoom lens can often stay in one place when the subject needs to appear larger or smaller in the frame.

If I want the tree stump to appear larger in the frame, I can move closer or zoom in. The result will not be the same, however. This photo was taken at a 24mm focal length from a distance of about 4 metres.

Yet both methods produce completely different photos. This has everything to do with the angle of view associated with a focal length. The photographer who does not zoom and moves closer does not change the angle of view. The photographer who stays where they are and zooms in changes the angle of view.

Look past your subject, at the background. When the angle of view changes because you zoom in, less of the background appears in the frame. Although less of it is visible, it still has to fill the entire width of the photo. This means it will appear larger in relation to your subject.

If you look at the background when you do not zoom but move closer, the amount of background in the frame will not change. It stays the same, while your subject appears larger in the frame.

The landscape was taken at a 50mm focal length, from a distance of 4 metres from the stump. Because of the greater distance and the longer focal length, the stump has remained the same size in the frame. Now compare the size of the background with the previous photo.

That is why you should use both methods when using a zoom lens, or several lenses with a fixed focal length. First decide how large you want the subject to appear in the frame, then consider how much of the background you want to include. Choose the focal length to get the desired amount of background in the frame, then change the distance to your subject to get it to the desired size in the photo.

De Landschapsbijbel, with 101 tips for magnificent landscape photos

This tip is part of the book De Landschapsbijbel, in which I give 101 tips for magnificent landscape photos. The book, full of beautiful photos, gives you all the information you need to start taking your own fantastic landscape photos.



Don't have De Landschapsbijbel yet? Order it via the order page and buy the book on its own, or at an attractive discount together with a membership of Photofacts Academy.

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