I remember shouting to Dennis James, “Work it, work it, work it!” He was one of the students in my Oregon workshop and the only one using a 28–300mm lens. If ever there was a good time to have such a lens, it was here, with one of the more magical sunsets taking place before us at Oregon’s Cannon Beach. The ability to “mine” a number of images from a scene like this is limited by how quickly you can change from one lens to the next. In my case, I can change lenses quite quickly, but if you’re just starting out, you may get a case of the “fumbles” unless you’re like Dennis and have an almost “all-purpose lens” at the ready.

Clearly there is a wide-angle shot here, as the first image attests, but within this “bigger picture” there is an equally impressive telephoto composition, shown at right. At the end of the day, we all want to see a quality image, but with a bit of experience, a bit of lens know-how, and some persistence, your day can end with both quality and quantity.

Top image: Nikon D3X with Nikkor 16–35mm lens at 16mm, f/22 for 1/30 sec., ISO 100; Bottom image: Nikon D3X with Nikkor 70–300mm lens at 70mm, f/22 for 1/30 sec., ISO 100