Lenses for Landscape Photography

Ultra-Wide Range Capturing

In the scene below you can see that the ultra-wide range captures more in the frame and distant elements in the frame appear much further away and the foreground becomes an important consideration in the shot as well as the sky. As the focal length increases you can see the opposite effect - the field of view narrows and elements draw closer together.

Note: The focal lengths above will multiply by 1.6 when taken with an APS-C camera.

16mm

35mm

47mm

75mm

How your camera can influence your lens choice

Canon's EF-S lenses are designed exclusively for APS-C sensor cameras such as the EOS 760D and are not compatible with full-frame models such as the EOS 5D series of cameras.

EF lenses can be used with any EOS camera, but when an EF lens is used on an APS-C type EOS, it will give an angle view equivalent to a lens with a focal length 1.6x longer on a full-frame camera. For example, an EF 28mm f/2.8 IS USM lens used on an EOS 760D gives an angle of view equivalent to a 45mm lens on a full-frame camera. This is something that you need to keep in mind when shooting wide angle landscape shots.

Shot at 11mm on a full frame sensor

Shot at 11mm on a APS-C sensor

Fixed or Zoom lens?

It might seem strange to consider a 'fixed' or 'prime' lens but as they are optically simpler and lighter than a zoom and deliver superb image quality, many professionals use them for this reason alone. They can also encourage you to move and frame your subject rather than to rely on using zoom.

Conversely, carrying multiple fixed lenses often just isn't practical when you're on the move. For these situations, a lighter weight wide-angle or ultra-wide-angle zoom lens can make sense, allowing more flexibility without having to change lenses.

Understanding Aperture

Most of the time landscapes are shot at small apertures of f/8 or greater to get the foreground and background in sharp focus, however, if you're considering shooting landscapes in low light conditions or going to the extremes of capturing starscapes, wider aperture lenses (f/2.8 zoom or an even wider f/1.4 prime) are worth considering. These lenses are also ideal when you want to capture movement without blur - such as birds taking flight.

Choosing the right lens

After taking all these things into consideration, you need to think about what is important for your shoot and what style you are trying to achieve.

• Do you want to fill your frame with expansive landscape shots? If so, an ultra-wide lens in the 11-20mm focal range would be the best option to help you achieve this.
• Do you want to work with layered scenic elements; such as forests and mountainscapes? In this case you should be looking towards a telephoto lens to help to flatten the perspective of the scene and bring the background and foreground closer together.
• Are you wanting to capture natural landscapes? Then you should be looking for a lens in the 24-35mm focal range to help you capture a more natural perspective.

Go further with landscape

Perceptions of traditional landscape photography usually incorporate vast, stretching landscapes.

To push your landscape photography further try experimenting with a longer focal length. This can bring elements of your composition closer together, flattening the perspective and compressing the scale of the scene, giving the impression that the foreground and background are closer together than they actually are. When you're working with layered scenic elements; such as forests with mountains and sun, or valleys and seascapes, this technique can give a dramatic effect.

There are also some specialist lens types that can give a unique look to your scene. You can broaden your lens collection with fisheye or tilt-shift lenses to give your images a fresh perspective.

Tilt-Shift

Usually associated with cityscapes and architecture, Tilt-Shift (TS-E) lenses are capable of correcting problems with perspective that are caused when taking pictures at an angle. The tilt and the shift of the lens are controlled individually and have different effects on your images.

With shift applied

Without shift applied