Photography tips

Long focal length

Mount Pilatus surrounded by clouds in violet evening light

Key tips

  1. Use a long focal length to isolate distant subjects like the mountain massif and capture them in detail.
  2. Use a long focal length to achieve optical compression between the foreground and the background.
  3. Use a long focal length like 400 mm to compress distant summits within the cloud layer.

Photographs on this topic

13 photographs with tips

The exact camera settings for each shot are shown below it - a starting point for recreating the look yourself. Click through to a photograph for detailed photography tips on that specific shot, under "Photography tips for this image".

All subjects Mountains Architecture Landscape Pilatus Central Switzerland Lucerne
Mount Pilatus surrounded by clouds in violet evening light 400 mm · f/9 · 1/15 s · ISO 800 The chapel on Mount Pilatus with a view of the city of Lucerne 400 mm · f/11 · 1/800 s · ISO 500 The mountain massif of Pilatus in Central Switzerland, embedded between dense cloud layers 400 mm · f/8 · 1/640 s · ISO 125 Winter landscape with the hotel buildings on the Bürgenstock near Lucerne 214 mm · f/25 · 1/250 s · ISO 800 The summit of Mount Pilatus near Lucerne in warm evening light 400 mm · f/14 · 1/200 s · ISO 1600 View of the Water Tower and Jesuit Church in Lucerne on Lake Lucerne with a passenger ship 415 mm · f/13 · 1/250 s · ISO 2500 Red cogwheel train of the Pilatus railway traveling over a green alpine meadow with grazing cows. 400 mm · f/8 · 1/400 s · ISO 250 The copper-roofed tower of the Hofkirche in Lucerne in front of the massive Mount Pilatus. 300 mm · f/25 · 1/400 s · ISO 1000 View of Hotel Château Gütsch on a wooded hill above historic buildings in Lucerne 174 mm · f/25 · 1/250 s · ISO 640 View of the pointed tower of the Musegg wall in Lucerne between historic building facades 347 mm · f/25 · 1/500 s · ISO 4000 View of the snowy Rigi mountain peak with transmitter tower above a dense sea of fog. 270 mm · f/8 · 1/400 s · ISO 100 Portrait of a brown bear at the Bern Bear Pit 400 mm · f/6.3 · 1/250 s · ISO 6400 A brown bear lying behind branches in the Bern bear pit 400 mm · f/6.3 · 1/500 s · ISO 6400

Related topics

  • Mountains
  • Architecture
  • Landscape
  • Light
  • Camera settings
  • Perspective
  • Composition
  • Pilatus
  • Central Switzerland
  • Lucerne
  • Evening light
  • Fog
  • Snow
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