The Power of Black and White in Nature and Landscape Photography by Rob Sheppard

Author:Rob Sheppard [Rob Sheppard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Peachpit Press
Published: 2019-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

ISO 400, 1/20, f/11, 200mm (APS-C)

The background tonality does not change between these two photos along the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina, but the sharpness does, and that affects how well we see the branch.

Use a telephoto for sharpness contrast

Telephotos give less depth of field, which then allows you to contrast a subject with its surroundings. The stronger or “longer” the telephoto, the more contrast you get. Exactly what focal lengths to use depends on the format you are shooting, and any focal length chosen is affected by f-stop used and distance to subject and background.

With 35mm-full-frame cameras, you start getting telephoto depth-of-field effects at 100mm. Try focal lengths of 200mm and longer to get some very dramatic differences between subject and background.

You may know that APS-C cameras have a smaller sensor than 35mm and will then change how a given focal length performs for a particular composition. They make any focal length act more like a telephoto compared to 35mm-full-frame by a factor of 1.5-1.6x. So an 80mm lens on an APS-C camera acts like a 120mm lens would act on the larger format ... except for depth of field. It might seem like that 120mm equivalent would give less depth of field because compared to the “smaller” 100mm of a 35mm-full-frame camera. That doesn’t work because the lens is still 80mm, shorter than 100mm, and therefore has more depth of field. To get the equivalent of depth of field of that 100mm on the 35mm-full-frame, you could use something like 150mm on APS-C.

Four Thirds and Micro Four Thirds cameras use the next smaller sensor size (both formats use the same sensor size). These cameras are small and compact, especially DSLM cameras. To get the equivalent of that 100mm lens on 35mm-full-frame, you use just a 50mm lens on Four Thirds. But once again, that 50mm is still 50mm, much shorter than 100mm, which results in more depth of field. (If you like lots of depth of field, this format is great!) To get the same sort of depth of field seen with 100mm and 35mm-full-frame cameras, you would need to go to 180-200mm with Four Thirds.

ISO 100, 1/200, f/8, 400mm (APS-C)

A long telephoto focal length allows for very shallow depth of field that then creates a sharpness contrast.

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