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Lens
> Telephoto
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The sand and ocean are out-of-focus.
(By the way, another term for out-of-focus
is "soft.")
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The
third important characteristic of telephoto settings
is this: It is more difficult to focus with a
telephoto setting.
This
is a fundamental rule of optics and there is no way
to get around it. As you zoom in, focus gets more and
more "critical." That is, it gets harder and
harder to keep everything in focus.
Notice
how only a small range of things is in focus in the
telephoto shot to the right. The sand in the foreground
is out of focus—as is the ocean in the background.
Only a narrow range is actually in focus.
Certainly,
this makes life more difficult, because you want your
subject to be in focus. But you can also use this to
your advantage. Let's say your subject is in front of
a distracting background—a porta-potty—and
you don't want your audience to see the darn thing.
By shooting with a telephoto setting, you can make the
background go out of focus.
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