Take a new look

Which lenses are well-suited to city scenes?

You can cover a lot of ground in an urban setting using nothing more than a standard zoom lens, but a telephoto lens and a wide-angle lens will enable you to capture images that go beyond the normal views.

A telephoto lens is perfect for picking out details and avoiding some of the visual clutter that city settings are notorious for. Something in the region of 70-200mm or 70-300mm for a full-frame camera, and the equivalent on a camera with an APS-C sensor is ideal. Because you have to shoot from further away with a telephoto lens, it creates a compression effect, where background details look closer to foreground details. This is useful for creating densely packed city scenes.

Wide-angle lenses are great for making tall buildings appear even more towering. Get close to a subject, tilt the lens up and embrace the distortion these lenses create.

Tele vision A 70-200mm lens, zoomed to 200mm, makes the buildings look densely packed together. The harmonious colour scheme helps, too.

Wide up Fit an ultra-wide lens (such as a 17-40mm used here on a full-frame camera) and get close to foreground details.