Master travel photography

6. Vary focal lengths

It's amazing how much difference your choice of focal length makes to a scene. To truly explore a location it pays to exploit this rather than rely on one focal length for everything you shoot. Many 'travel' lenses will give you a wide and a long option (typically 18-200mm) so look to the extremes of this range to see how each option changes the emphasis. Otherwise the combination of a good

At the wide end, foreground elements will dominate and become the main subject of the photograph, whereas at the telephoto end of the lens, the foreground either disappears completely or becomes less important. The two images below, from Venice, were shot at the same location at 20mm and 200mm, and show how the emphasis alters fully through lens choice.