Using a Telephoto Zoom Lens for Landscape Photography

Telephoto landscape photography offers a powerful way to capture compelling compositions that highlight details from afar—mountain peaks, wildlife, and textures that are often lost in wider shots. Landscape photography often calls for capturing vast, sweeping vistas, but with Tamron ultra-telephoto zoom lenses, the art of isolating distant details and compressing layers comes into focus. Tamron’s versatile ultra-telephoto zoom lenses offer remarkable focal ranges, allowing photographers to bring far-off mountains, wildlife, and intricate textures into sharp clarity, even from a great distance.

With advanced optics, vibration compensation, and weather-resistant construction, the Tamron SP 150-600mm for DSLRs and the 150-500mm or 50-400mm for mirrorless cameras are game-changers for those looking to expand their creative horizons in the field of landscape photography.

Images and Text by Taryn Rehn with the Tamron 150-600mm G2

What You’ll Learn in This Article:

• How telephoto zoom lenses can enhance your landscape compositions
• Techniques for reducing vibration and maximizing image sharpness
• Tips for using light, elevation, and orientation to your advantage
• Why a telephoto lens can help you tell more intimate visual stories
• The best practices for setup, including tripods, ISO, and file formats

TIP 1: Get to the Site Early

The best light is an hour before sunset/sunrise. Add extra time to find the best composition. I use a sun position app to preview where the sun will rise and set. That allows me to get positioned in the ballpark of the best sunset composition. I use the same approach for the moon. There are free smartphone apps that provide a live preview of where the moon will be in relation to landscape features. Just search for “sun path” and you’ll find the app.

TIP 2: Be Nimble

When shooting telephoto landscape photography, move around and try different compositions when you first arrive at the scene. But only up to a certain point. Photography is all about timing, being prepared in the right place at the right time. I avoid moving around during key shooting times such as the last few moments of sunset or the beginning of moonrise. That would waste too much time restabilizing the tripod and risks missing the shot.

TIP 3: Look for a Story to Tell

When I first started using the 150-600 telephoto lens for telephoto landscape photography, it felt a bit restrictive compared to the standard zoom lens that I’m accustomed to. With the standard, I can capture wide swaths of landscape. By definition, the focus is narrowed with a telephoto lens. But after using the telephoto lens for a month my way of thinking was transformed.

I realized how fun and empowering it is to be able to reach into a distant scene and extract a compelling visual narrative. Standard zoom lenses are great for conveying the big picture, but the telephoto lens is a more effective tool for storytelling, which is my main objective in photography. For the most part, my audience already knows what the iconic landscapes of the pacific northwest look like. So, over time it’s become less about producing another mountain sunset and more about evoking the feelings and memories unique to the spirit of the place.

The Tamron telephoto lens lets me highlight a unique story that is unfolding at a given moment. With the standard zoom lens, I typically avoid people or human made objects. With the Tamron 150-600 telephoto lens, I quickly learned the advantage of locations that are likely to have activity (human or wildlife) to add detail to the narrative.

For my photography style, human activity is clutter in a panoramic view. But in a telephoto view it becomes a heartwarming vignette. It was a complete paradigm shift from preferring scenes devoid of manmade objects to seeking out locations with activity. The telephoto lens is a powerful tool for highlighting the beauty of those relatively up close and personal moments. Ask yourself, what’s the story and feeling I’m trying to convey? What do I want to remember about this moment that I haven’t seen or experienced before?

TIP 4: Choose the Right Tamron Lens for Telephoto Landscape Photography

Tamron offers three outstanding ultra-telephoto zoom lenses that cater to different camera systems and shooting preferences. Each of these lenses brings unique advantages to landscape photographers looking to add compression, reach, and creative storytelling to their work.

SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 (Model A022) – for DSLRs (Canon, Nikon)

• Why it’s great for telephoto landscape photography: With its extended 600mm reach, this lens is perfect for pulling distant mountain peaks, wildlife, and compressed scenic layers into the frame with clarity and impact.
• Ideal for: DSLR users who want maximum telephoto range and high optical performance in varied outdoor conditions.
• Key features: Vibration Compensation (VC), fast autofocus, moisture-resistant construction.

150-500mm F/5-6.7 Di III VC VXD – for Mirrorless (Sony E, Nikon Z, Fujifilm X)

• Why it’s great for telephoto landscape photography: This lens balances portability and reach, offering excellent sharpness and compression for subjects that are far off without excessive weight.
• Ideal for: Mirrorless shooters who hike or travel and need a compact yet powerful telephoto.
• Key features: Quick and quiet VXD linear motor AF, compact design, excellent stabilization.

50-400mm F/4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD – for Mirrorless (Sony E, Nikon Z)

• Why it’s great for telephoto landscape photography: With a unique 8x zoom range starting at 50mm, this lens offers unmatched versatility—from wide compositions to tightly compressed landscapes—without switching lenses.
• Ideal for: Photographers who want both flexibility and reach in a single lightweight lens.
• Key features: 50mm wide end, fast autofocus, VC image stabilization, close focusing.

TIP 5: Use a Good Tripod

The weight of a telephoto lens requires a sturdy, stable tripod, especially in low light situations. I upgraded to a carbon fiber tripod because my old tripod lacked the weight capacity.

TIP 6: Avoid Vibration

Don’t set up on a boat, dock, or bridge that is subject to movement or vibration, unless you’re shooting at a very fast shutter speed (i.e., bright light conditions and/or higher ISO). Using a remote shutter control can also help reduce vibration for greater clarity when shooting telephoto landscape photography. However, the auto focus didn’t work as well for me with the remote shutter, so I mainly used the live view touch screen focus to control shutter release.

The light tap of a finger on the live view screen creates less vibration than pressing the button on the front of the camera body. Furthermore, I almost always use a 2-second delay on the shutter release so that any vibration from a finger tap is mitigated. However, that technique is not applicable to wildlife photography because animals tend to move. In that case you may need to freehand it or set the camera to automatic continuous shooting.

TIP 7: Don’t Be Afraid to Turn Up the ISO

I typically only shoot at 100 ISO to minimize noise in the image. But with a telephoto lens, while trying to capture wildlife images at sunset, I believe it’s better to increase ISO and have a hint of grain than to have blur from subject movement or vibration. I ‘ve gone up to 800-1600 ISO and the photos are perfectly fine for web and medium size print.

TIP 8: Experiment with Landscape and Portrait Orientation

One of the things I enjoyed about the Tamron 150-600mm G2 lens is that it comes with an Arca-Swiss compatible tripod mount. The 150-500mm is also equipped with the tripod mount. And it is available as an optional accessory for the more compact 50-400mm. The tripod mount allows me to rotate the camera into portrait mode without using the ball socket rotation on the tripod. It’s a much quicker way to switch between landscape and portrait orientation. Be sure that VC is switched to “on” if you are not using a tripod or it might not work properly in portrait mode. For a long time, I shot exclusively in portrait mode but lately I’ve switched to landscape and crop it into two portrait vignettes. The key is to experiment with both and find your personal style for telephoto landscape photography.

TIP 9: Shoot in Raw

I typically need to do some image sharpening in Photoshop or Lightroom. A few years ago, I rented a top-of-the-line telephoto and was surprised to learn that photos taken over 100mm are improved by sharpening in the photo editing program of your choice. When shooting objects at a great distance, atmospheric haze begins to reduce the sharpness of the image.

Atmospheric haze is natural and always present, just more prevalent in telephoto landscape photography. It’s part of the reason the trees in the distance look faded and lack detail when viewed with the naked eye. No matter how good the lens is, it can’t completely overcome that natural effect, especially when there’s high humidity, smoke, or smog in the air. Do a bit of sharpening using one of the clarity or dehaze tools in Photoshop and watch the detail come to life! But don’t overdo it or the result could look too granular and unrealistic.

TIP 10: Natural High

One of the best ways to maximize the potential of a telephoto lens is to go to a high vantage point and photograph the scene below. Some of my favorite shots are looking down at farms and homesteads in the river valley or along the shores of the Puget Sound. If your local terrain is flat, try a lookout tower or an urban context such as the roof deck of a high rise building or the upper seats in a stadium.

Elevate Your Vision with Telephoto Landscape Photography

Telephoto landscape photography opens up a world of creative possibilities that go far beyond traditional wide-angle vistas. By isolating distant subjects, compressing scenic layers, and telling more intimate visual stories, ultra-telephoto lenses from Tamron empower you to capture the landscape in bold and unexpected ways. Whether you’re drawn to the rugged detail of a mountain ridge or the quiet presence of wildlife in a sweeping valley, choosing the right lens—like the Tamron 150-600mm, 150-500mm, or 50-400mm—can transform how you see and share the world around you.

See more of Taryn’s work on Instagram at @tarynrehn

Learn more about this lens at an authorized Tamron dealer in your area or visit the TAMRON Store today.

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