Telephoto lenses - tips for good photography

A telephoto lens brings you closer to distance subjects. Very useful when you are photographing wildlife and sport. Also useful when you want to take candid shots of people at a wedding, you can stay remote and observe the action from a distance. If you are not using a flash they may not even know you have taken a picture.

The pictures below were taken at telephoto focal lengths.

 

Focal length 90mm using a 'prime lens', not a zoom

Focal length 160mm using a zoom lens which can go from 28 to 160mm

Focal length 160mm using a zoom lens which can go from 28 to 160mm

Focal length 330mm using a zoom lens which can go from 105 to 450mm
I wonder what the groom had just said to his dad?

Telephoto lenses do two key things to the image. They foreshorten perspective, making things not only look closer to you but also distances between objects at different distances away appear closer together. Secondly, the depth of field, the amount in focus is also shallower, which generally means distracting detail in the background is lost to blurring and the 'bokeh' effect seen clearly in the highlights in the vegetation in the last picture.

Have fun playing with your zoom and telephoto lenses but use their effects knowingly, and creatively.