: Thanks for the direct link. : : Isn't not changing location why we buy long lenses? Or just about any : lens? If we can't change our spot we can get the image by using : different lenses...... that isn't the only reason. differing focal lengths (obviously) have different angles of view.. full frame images are possible using these various lenses which exhibit either compression and expansion without the need to crop. by this I mean, you could easily get almost all the images you want with your widest lens and then cropping out the center, but it really doesn't give you a lot to work with if you want the compression of a 400mm from say 50 meters from your subject and you use a 21mm lens! (you'd be cropping out the tinniest portion of the image) Compression and expansion are some of the most creative elements you can take advantage of with having different focal length lenses - as you possibly saw from the link I sent you. The reason I used a head was that for most of us, distortion is more recognisable than in an unfamiliar building shot or landscape. Keeping the subject the same size in the frame and moving in close will give you not just a whole lot more background but will also make the subject large relative to the background. Effectively your subjects relative position to the background is great relative to you and the subject - the result is expansion of the scene. Another thing you can do is to make subjects which are far apart appear relatively close by using a long lens and moving a long distance from the subjects - relative to your position they become relatively close to each other - and will appear to be the same or similar sizes - compression of the scene. k
