Photography Post: Thoughts on Perspective & Focal Length

The 'nifty fifty' view, taken at 51mm equivalent (34mm APS-C)

How much do photos show a landscape as it actually appeared, that would look the same to someone else standing in the same spot?  I don’t mean the same colours, the same light, the same sky,  of course. They change all the time. I mean the perspective, the relationship between different parts of the image. If there’s a tree in the foreground and hills on the horizon, is the scale of both the same in the photo as in the actual view?

It all depends of course on the focal length of the lens. The wider the lens the more of the scene is in the view but the smaller distant objects appear and the larger close ones appear. The opposite happens with a longer focal length.

So what’s the focal length that’s closest to what you actually see? Traditionally it’s 50mm, the ‘nifty fifty’ in the full frame/35mm format. When I was learning photography, with a 35mm film camera, I read this in many books. I never really thought about it though. I just accepted that if all these photographers said it then it must be so. But must it?

Recently I read a number of online articles, like this one, about focal length and human eyesight and began to wonder.  In different places I read that 43mm and 70mm were correct, not 50mm. They couldn’t both be! I looked at some of my photos of views I can see from home taken at around the equivalent of 50mm (33-36mm on my APS-C camera) and then looked out of the window. The mountains in the distance looked smaller and further away in the photos (see picture at the head of this article).

How it looked to my eyes. 73mm (49 APS-C)

A practical test was needed. I went outside to see which focal length looked the most accurate to my eyes. I picked a spot with some stones not far in front of me so I could check their size against the trees in the mid ground and the hills in the distance, I used a zoom lens (all the images in this piece were taken with a Sony 18-135 zoom lens) and looked at the view and the camera screen while zooming  the lens until the proportions looked the same for both.

When the image in the viewfinder and what I could see matched near enough I pressed the shutter. The focal length was 73mm. That’s 49mm on an APS-C camera so 50mm is the right focal length for the world to look as I see it! But not in full frame/35mm terms.

If someone stood on the same spot and looked at that view they would see everything in proportion as in my 73mm photo.

Cropped wide angle image

Does that mean having everything in proportion results in the best photograph? Only if that’s what you’re trying to capture. I don’t think the 73mm image is the best from this spot. Or at least it’s not my favourite. I prefer a wide angle image cropped to a panoramic format. I could only see it looking like that through the lens though. It's worth nothing that the dramatic view in a photograph may not look just the same in reality!

Put of curiosity I am going to go out with just my 50mm lens (75mm equivalent) and see what results I get.

Here are some more photos taken from the same spot at different focal lengths.

31mm (21mm APS-C)

111mm (74mm APS-C)

202mm (135mm APS-C)

Favourite Photos I Took In 2024

Sgor Gaoith, Cairngorms, March. Sony a6700 + Sony E 18-135mm lens at 135mm, ISO 100, 

                                                                      1/500 sec at f8.

Belatedly here are some of my favourites from the 4500 or so photos I took in 2024. Or at least those I like most at the moment! I’ve hummed and hawed about quite a few, putting them in, then taking them out. As I said last year it’s a pleasant if time-consuming task.  It's also a useful way of analysing my photography looking at themes and changes from past years, if any.

As always, I took many photos of camps, my favourites of which can be seen in this post. Several of them could have featured here. 

Stac na h-Iolaire, Cairngorms, January. Sony a6700 + Sony E 18-135mm lens at 48mm, ISO 100,  1/50 sec at f8. 

As it has been since I bought it in 2019 my most used lens by far is the Sony E 18-135mm. I did use the Sigma 18-50mm a fair bit though. The extra reach of the 18-135 makes a huge difference and if I only take one lens that’s it. However at F2.8 the Sigma is faster and so better for low light or throwing the background out of focus. It’s also smaller and lighter weight. I do like it very much. 

Foxglove, July. Sony a6600 + Sigma 18-50 lens at 50mm, ISO 100, 1/160 @ f2.8

Generally I carried just one camera body, my Sony a6700, though sometimes I took the a6600 as well.

Campfire at Amethyst Lakes, Canadian Rockies, 1988. Scan from Fujichrome 100 film with Sony a6700 + Sony E 30mm macro lens, ISO 100, 4 seconds at f8.

Having dabbled with film photography again a few years ago and realised why digital is such a relief I ended up spending more time in 2024 working on old Fuji film transparencies than on digital images. That was because I needed to scan over 100 of them for the new edition of my book High Summer about my walk the length of the Canadian Rockies in 1988. I spent many hours and days going through sleeves and boxes of slides selecting ones for the book and then photographing them on an old lightbox with my usually little-used Sony E 30mm macro lens.

Dawn on the Graham River, Canadian Rockies, 1988. Scan from Fujichrome 100 film with Sony a6700 +Sony E 30mm macro lens, ISO 100, 1/4 second at f8.

I always shoot raw files and much of my processing is now done in DxO PhotoLab. The latest version, PhotoLab 8, is the best yet. PhotoLab was wonderful for processing my photos of my old photos and getting the best out of them. 

Autumn woodland, October. Sony a6700 + Sigma 18-50mm lens at 28.7mm, ISO 400, 1/30 second at f8.

I like many of these images because of the complexity. I can see new details every time I look at them. 

Roe deer bucks facing off, May. Sony a6600 + Sony E 70-350mm lens at 350mm, ISO 400, 1/1600 seconds at f6.3. Cropped.

I'm not a wildlife photographer but I do take wildlife photographs when the opportunity is there. On this occasion I was at home looking out of the window when two roe deer bucks appeared in the field in front of the house and started fighting. I rushed upstairs, grabbed my camera and took a series of photos through my study window. This arguably the best one, though none of the heavily cropped images are technically very good. I like them because it was such an exciting event to witness. You can see the others and read the whole story here.

Dusk over Loch Poulary, Cape Wrath Trail, May. Sony a6700 + Sony E 18-135mm at 33mm, ISO 100, 1/100 seconds at f8.

Most of my photos were taken around home and in the Cairngorms. I did make two trips further west when I walked most of the Cape Wrath Trail. Whilst conditions weren't often ideal for photography I did take some images I'm pleased with.

The Stack of Glencoul, Loch Beag, & Eas a' Chual Aluinn (waterfall), Cape Wrath Trail, October. Sony a6700 + Sony E 18-135mm lens at 34mm, ISO 100, 1/200 second at f8.

Birch tree, August. Sony a6700 + Sony E 18-135mm lens at 43mm, ISO 100, 1/250 at f8.

Every year I take many photos of a birch tree in the field outside our house. The dramatic sky made this my 2024 favourite.

A squall sweeping across Strathspey, April. Sony a6600 + Sigma 18-50mm lens at 50mm, ISO 100, 1/640 second at f9.

Dramatic clouds feature in many of my favourite images of 2024. I do like them!

Clouds streaking over Cairn Toul in the Cairngorms, September. Sony a6700 + Sony E 10-20mm lens at 10mm, ISO 100, 1/320 second at f8.

Rain sweeping over Bod an Deamhain, Cairngorms, June. Sony a6700 + Sony E 18-135mm lens at 88mm, ISO 100, 1/160 seconds at f8.

Thicker clouds and rain can make for interesting skies too. The photos above and below show different aspects of this. Both were taken only a short distance apart though five months apart in time. 

View down the Lairig Ghru from Creag an Leth-choin, Cairngorms, November. Sony a6700 + Sigma 18-50mm lens at 18mm, ISO 100, 1/1000 seconds at f5.6

Cairn Gorm Weather Station, October. Sony a6700 + Sony E 18-135mm at 38mm, ISO 100, 1/320 seconds at f8

Structures on mountain tops other than summit cairns or trig points are not something I like or generally approve of but I must admit that the Weather Station on the summit of Cairn Gorm has become a favourite old friend, especially in winter conditions. On this occasion I was alone on the summit on a bitterly cold day when another walker arrived to gaze up at the frozen mast.

Sunset, Tom Mor, Cairngorms, December. Sony a6700 + Sony E 18-135mm lens at 30mm, ISO 800, 1/80 seconds at f8.

Another favourite structure is a huge cairn on a local hill Tom Mor that I can see from home. The view along Strathspey from there is superb but on this December trip it was the sunset that was glorious.

Mists In The Forest & The Photographs I Took

 

This week's weather has been mixed with much cloud and mist and some rain and sunshine. The mist has been fascinating though, curling through the forests and drifting half-way up hills. Photographing it has been absorbing. The above image is my favourite of the week. It took a little thought and movement to achieve. It's always satisfying when doing so ends with a result I'm happy with. 

Above is the first image I took looking down into this wooded glen. I quite like it but it doesn't have the intimate quality I wanted so I changed my position a little to include the fallen tree in the foreground and zoomed in to the depths of the glen, cutting out the sky, to get the picture at the top. I didn't have to vary the focal length much, just from 39mm to 45mm (APS-C),  but it made a huge difference. 

I zoomed in much further for the above image, right to the 135mm limit of my lens in fact. The steep eastern flank of Cairn Gorm had briefly emerged from the clouds and I loved the stand of trees with mist either side in the centre and thought the two together made for an interesting picture.

The above image took a little time and thought too. Initially I was attracted by the thin band of mist in the distance. But zooming in to 135mm produced the image below. I like the mist but there's too much of the less interesting background and not enough foreground.

It works better cropped to a panorama which puts more emphasis on the mist though I'm still not convinced by the background.

I pulled the zoom in for the next image (to 51mm) I like the rather ghostly aspens but the centre is too dark. I can lighten it of course but then the trees look too flat and dull.

Finally I looked at the scene more closely and decided to concentrate on the immediate foreground and to include the rock and the bracken. I liked the contrast between the sunlit oak tree and the lichen covered leafless birch tree in shadow. Finally I had a compostion that worked for me.

Meall a'Bhuachaille, forest regeneration, and the power of photography

View over Ryvoan Bothy from the lower slopes of Meall a'Bhuachaille, April 2004

Visiting the same locations year after year you can’t help but notice changes. How great these are may not be apparent though. I’ve walked through Ryvoan Pass and climbed Meall a’Bhuachaille in the Cairngorms several times every year for over thirty years. It’s a great hill for a half day, for bad weather, to show other people the area. The views are superb, and the walk takes you from the forest to a bare summit, a journey through the Cairngorms in miniature.

View over Ryvoan Bothy from the lower slopes of Meall a'Bhuachaille, June 2023

One of the many joys I find in this walk is seeing the regeneration of the forest, seeing the trees spreading and advancing across the landscape. This year I went up Meall a’Bhuachaille on the last day of June, a muggy day with mist and drizzle. The land was green and lush. I took photographs as usual, mostly as a record as the light was flat and hazy. Such record shots can be significant though.

Back home I was looking for an old image on my computer when I came on ones of an ascent of Meall a’Bhuachaille in 2004. I was immediately struck by how bare the landscape looked. Where were all the trees? I hadn’t realised just how much had changed, just how much the forest had spread. The photographs are a powerful record of this.

Looking over the plantation to Loch Morlich, July 2007

Looking through other photographs I found ones showing the large plantation that lay south of the mountain, the bare ground after the plantation was felled, and, from my recent trip, the regeneration now springing up. The land has gone from a dense regimented tree farm to bare ground to a new forest in a little over a decade.

The felled plantation visible in the centre of the image. Note the block of pines left standing. April 2013.

Felling may have removed the mature spruce trees of the plantation, but their seeds of course remained and many young spruce trees are springing up. However there are pines, birch, rowan, and juniper as well. The new forest won’t be the same as the old pine forest that was there before the spruce, but it will be a far more diverse, natural forest than the plantation.

Regeneration on the site of the plantation around the block of pines. June 2023

Photographs convey all this far more than words or charts or facts and figures. The changes are clearly visible. I’m glad I’ve always taken photos even when conditions weren’t promising. I just wish I’d taken more.

Another view over Ryvoan Bothy, April 2004

Similar view to the one above, June 2023

My Photography in 2020: a favourite for each month

January: Clouds over the Cairngorms

Most years I do a round-up of my favourite photos. Last year was an unusual year due to the pandemic of course - for four months I never went further than five miles from home and not once did I leave the Scottish Highlands and only rarely the Cairngorms. My planned long walks for May and June never took place. There are always big spikes in the number of photos in the months when there's a long trip. There are no spikes for any month in 2020. There are no dips in the lockdown months either. I found plenty to photograph close to home. 

February: Cloud-capped Cairngorms

Rather than my absolute favourites for the year here I'm going to post a favourite from each month. These are photos that mean something to me and bring back memories of a strange year in which each month has its own resonance. Usually my memories of a year, along with my photos, are dominated by long walks. Last year was different.

March: Snow & Light

March saw my last trips to the snowy hills until the autumn. The snow remained high up for weeks but lockdown made the big hills out of reach and I could only admire it from a distance. Instead I had the spring to follow and watch at home.

April: Forest & Mountain, Green & White

May: Spring Birches, Spring Sky

June: Cairngorms Evening

July: A Touch of Rainbow

August: Cairn Gorm Sunset

Of these twelve photos six were taken less than two miles from my front door, the other six in the Cairngorms. 2020 really was a year for staying home.

September: Fire in the Sky

October: Mist in the Lairig Ghru

November: Cairn Lochan Gully

December: Sunset from Meall a'Bhuachaille

Photographic Notes. The images were taken on my Sony a6000 camera with Sony E 18-135 lens. All twelve images were taken at different focal lengths, from 18 to 128mm. I believe in using a zoom lens to the full! The aperture was f8 in all images bar July's, which was f5.6. Shutter speeds ranged from 1/15 to 1/1600. The ISO was 100 except for August, which was 200, and July, which was 400. All photos were handheld.

Colorado Rockies: More Pictures

Stuck inside with a bad cold for the last week and tired of doing my accounts (late as usual) I've been looking through my photos from last year's long walk on the Continental Divide Trail in the Colorado Rockies. Reliving a walk this way is always relaxing.I've also been reminded of the variety scenery and the changes in the weather. I'm surprised now that I stopped to take photos of some huge storms instead of racing for the nearest cover!

Here's a few more photos that caught my eye.