Can I shoot a house or landscape at f/2.8 in low light?
Asked 7/11/2013
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I want to photograph a large scene, such as a big house about 10m away, in low light. Can I use a 50mm lens at f/2.8 for this? There won’t be any subject between the camera and the house. I’m mainly wondering whether f/2.8 is practical for this kind of landscape-style shot, and what trade-offs to expect.
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
13y ago
2 Answers
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Landscape photography is usually done with a short focal length and small aperture - but that doesn't mean you have to - you can use a large aperture, a long focal length or any tool/technique you want to use - having your own style that is different than the standard is a good thing.
The reason landscape photography is done with a small aperture is that usually you want everything in focus and a large aperture will give you a smaller depth of field - but if you want the house to be in focus and whatever is closer/farther away to be blurred that's fine, however, if you want everything in focus it's not going to work.
And finally, you mention low light, if you think you need a large aperture because it's low light than there's a better solution, just use a tripod (or put the camera on any flat-ish surface) and use a cable release or a 2-second timer - and you can use whatever aperture you want for artistic effect and compensate with the shutter speed.
Originally by user2481. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user2481
13y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Yes — you can use 50mm at f/2.8 to photograph a house in low light if that framing gives you the composition you want.
The main trade-off is depth of field. A wide aperture like f/2.8 gives less of the scene in focus than a smaller aperture such as f/8 or f/11. If you only need the house sharp, that may be fine. If you want everything from foreground to background sharp, f/2.8 is usually not ideal.
For landscape-style images, photographers often use:
- shorter focal lengths for a wider view
- smaller apertures for more depth of field
Using a shorter lens makes the shallow-depth-of-field effect less noticeable, even at wider apertures.
If low light is the reason for choosing f/2.8, a tripod is often the better solution. It lets you use a slower shutter speed and a smaller aperture to keep more of the scene sharp.
So: yes, f/2.8 will work, but expect less depth of field and possible background blur depending on distances in the scene.
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