Common Mistakes You’re Making With a Telephoto Lens

A wide-angle lens is perfect for capturing faraway objects in precise detail. This type of composition can be more difficult to grasp—stop making common mistakes when using a telephoto lens. For better photos of your subjects, take a look at these mistakes you’re making so you can learn how to use the lens better and start composing exquisite images.

Shaky or Blurred Images

A significant issue with telephoto lenses is they are more likely to shake when you use them. Therefore, your images can become blurry and out of focus. This is because the lens is particularly long and extremely zoomed in. Using this device in a handheld fashion can accentuate the shakiness.

This is a tricky problem to resolve because there is always a chance it can happen, but placing your device on a tripod will steady the camera. To avoid touching the camera, use a remote control to take the picture. If a tripod is unavailable, be very still the second before the image is taken, or use other materials or objects to help support your equipment.

Slow Shutter Speed

Depth of field is not critical when using a telephoto lens to capture your subject. Because of this, you can find the sweet spot with the lens that creates a smaller aperture for a faster shutter speed. This sweet spot is typically around an f/8.

Flooding more light into your lens with this f-stop can reduce the shakiness and allow you to use a faster shutter speed. Another way to boost the shutter speed is by increasing your ISO—do not take this too far, or you could end up ruining your images.

Unclear Subject

You should never use this equipment without fully understanding your telephoto lens because you could be using it wrong, like having no clear subject in your photos. The reason your images lack a subject could be because they’re too obvious in your framing or because too many distractions take away from the subject. 

Fix this by getting closer to the individual or object you’re capturing; it may feel uncomfortable at first, but the closer you get, the better quality you’ll receive on an image. Capturing an entire scene with this type of lens can make your subject seem minuscule, and the impact of your photo is lost. Don’t be afraid to experiment with colors and lighting to emphasize the individual or object.

Now that you better understand common mistakes you could make with a telephoto lens, you can start capturing better quality images with crisp and apparent subjects. Take your equipment out to experiment; the only way to improve your skills is to continue shooting. Be mindful of these mistakes when photographing so you can avoid making them.