The Correct Focal Length And Design Options In Photography

 

The correct focal length:

Wide angle or zoom? The focal length of a lens describes the angle of view that you see.

The smaller your focal length, the greater the angle of view that reaches the image sensor; and the higher the focal length, the smaller the angle of view and the closer you can zoom in on distant objects. When choosing the right focal length, it mainly depends on the subject to be photographed. Would you like to take a narrow alley or a normal landscape shot at night or have as much of the surroundings as possible in your picture? Then you should opt for a shorter focal length and use a wide-angle lens.

For example, we almost always take pictures of landscapes in Saxon Switzerland or nocturnal photos of Dresden city center with a focal length of 24–85 mm. If you are standing relatively close to the object to be photographed, such shorter focal lengths are also unavoidable, since with a higher focal length you cut off far too much of the desired subject and the viewing angle perceptible by the camera is reduced.

It looks completely different if you want to photograph details of a subject or, for example, want to capture the rising moon as large as possible on the picture. In these cases it is advisable to use a lens with the longest possible focal length. Your perspective should be limited to a certain area that is further away than your immediate surroundings. For example, in order to display the full moon in a comparatively huge manner for the viewer of the picture to the surroundings, we always use a focal length of 400 mm. Note, however, that your photo position must be very far from the actual subject. Because in order to be able to photograph the moon with a full 400 mm focal length with a beautiful backdrop, for example behind a church, the entire image content is zoomed in with 400 mm focal length. Around the church, behind which the full moon should then rise, i.e. to capture it in the picture in an apparently normal size, the photo position must be far away from it. With a focal length of 400 mm, this distance to the object to be photographed can be several kilometers, depending on the size.

In the finished photo, the church appears in a seemingly normal size, while the moon looks comparatively huge and almost surreal. Such exciting and sometimes unrealistic images for the viewer are ultimately just a matter of having the right perspective.

For example, in the photo above of the moonrise on April 17th, 2014 we were about 9.5 km as the crow flies from city center. Due to the clear air, however, this could be seen very well with a 400 mm lens. The entire photo was zoomed in very close using the 400 mm focal length. Since the city center, including the famous buildings, was very far away, we were able to take an impressive picture of the rising moon. Here you can find out how the photo was taken exactly.

Design options:

With the right focal length, you can create completely new motifs. In most cases, however, a certain amount of planning is necessary for this. Because you have to know, for example, when and where the sun or moon will rise in order to be able to incorporate these objects into your motif. With enough focal length, you can create surreal photos, which have been implemented by image processing without any montage.

You can also achieve another special effect with an extremely short focal length. With so-called wide-angle or fisheye lenses, you can get very close to the subject without, for example, the building sticking out of your image section. In this way you can implement photos that show more content than is usually possible with a standard zoom.