That doesn’t look right!

“That view doesn’t look like that!” is a comment that crops up quite often when I post certain landscape images on social media. I’m not quite sure why people think that I would blend different images together, add sky or insert mountains or other objects … but this is a comment that crops up again and again, so it might be good to try and explain.

If you think an image doesn’t look “real” it could be due to a phenomenon called lens compression. Lens compression in photography refers to the effect where objects appear closer together in an image than they actually are in real life. This phenomenon is primarily influenced by the focal length of the lens being used and the distance between the camera and the subject.

When a photographer uses a telephoto lens with a longer focal length to capture a scene from a distance, the compression effect becomes more noticeable. The lens magnifies the distant subjects, making them appear closer together in the final image. This can be visually striking and create a unique perspective that enhances the composition of the photograph.

In contrast, using a wide-angle lens with a shorter focal length tends to exaggerate the sense of depth in a scene. Objects in the foreground may appear much larger than those in the background, creating a more expansive and immersive view.

Overall, understanding lens compression allows photographers to manipulate perspective and create compelling visual effects in their images by choosing the right focal length for the desired outcomes with an idea.