Telephoto Portraits

Learn how long lenses and compression enhances portraiture!

Level: Intermediate
Date: Saturday 11 April 2026
Duration: 4.30pm – 6pm
Price: $199
Instructor: Seng Mah
Maximum participants: 8
Location: Woodman Point Bushland, Coogee (meet at John Graham Recreation Reserve, Coogee)

Join us for a cowboy-themed styled photoshoot and learn all about why telephoto lenses are great for on-location portrait photography!

Long lenses are not just for sports or wildlife. Longer focal length lenses (135mm – 600mm) also make great portrait lenses that are worth more than their weight in gold when you’re shooting on location in natural light.

Telephoto lenses provide perspective compression that help make the portraits about the person — with just enough of a hint of background and setting to evoke story and ambience.

Whether you’re an Aperture Priority aficionado, or a dab hand at Manual Exposure, this workshop will show you how to work your telephoto lenses in the field when taking portraits.

Learn why longer focal lengths can create better subject to background separation than wider lenses, even if you’re shooting at f/5.6 vs f/1.8. Get your head around the notion of focus distance and depth of field, and discover the pure joy of leveraging telephoto lenses in portrait photography!

We’ll be working in small group with a selection of models, so that you will have time and opportunity to explore and “have a go” with your telephoto lens.

WHAT YOU NEED

For this workshop, you need:

A telephoto lens that will cover anywhere within the range of 135mm – 600mm (full frame equivalent). We recommend telephoto lenses in the range of 100 – 400mm, but you can also use a 70-200mm, 150-600mm and so on. Note that these focal lengths are expressed for full frame sensor sizes. If you are using APS-C crop frame or micro-four-third sensors, then the focal lengths will be expressed differently. Eg. 50 – 140mm for 70-200mm equivalents on a crop frame sensor, or 35mm – 100mm on a micro-four-thirds sensor.
A digital SLR or mirrorless interchangeable lense camera.
Note that this workshop will not be suitable for 85mm or wider prime lenses. You will need at least a 135mm full frame equivalent lens if you are using a prime lens.
You don’t need flash or tripod for this workshop.

Inclement weather consideration: In the event of inclement weather, this workshop will be re-scheduled. You will be given the opportunity to change to the new date or receive a refund should the workshop be re-scheduled.