Using a Telephoto Lens to Shoot Iceland's Highlands

Andrea Livieri has been photographing Iceland's Highlands for about eleven years, and on his latest trip, he decided to use a Sigma 100-400mm lens on a Fujifilm body to break away from the usual wide drone panoramas. This lens gives roughly the same angle of view as a 150-600mm on full frame, which is unusual for landscapes.

Shooting with a Telephoto Lens

Livieri shot almost everything handheld across an eight-day workshop, keeping the lens on his X-T4 even while driving between locations. He used stabilization, held the camera firmly, and leaned on continuous low-speed burst mode to get sharper images. He also made a point about atmospheric distortion, which can be mistaken for lens softness, using examples of an IKEA sign in Rotterdam to illustrate the difference.

Creative Argument

The creative argument for using a telephoto lens is that it allows for a different kind of seeing, one that is more intimate and grounded. Drone footage shows the Highlands from above, but it rarely shows the details on the ground. Starting at 100mm meant Livieri had to decide what mattered and cut everything else, resulting in more focused compositions. In the Landmannalaugar area, he used the long end to pick out hikers moving through the terrain, and near Mælifell he isolated jeeps crossing an impossibly large landscape, tiny human figures that set the scale and added quiet action to an otherwise still scene.

Broader Shift

There is a broader shift worth connecting here. The dominance of aerial imagery has made the overhead view the default way we picture certain places, which means the ground-level, tightly compressed telephoto shot now reads as fresh precisely because it is less common. Compression is the principle you can take from this regardless of where you shoot. A long focal length stacks distant elements against each other, pulls a far ridge up behind a foreground shape, and lets you build relationships between things that a wide lens would scatter across the frame. You do not need Iceland to practice it. Any layered landscape, hills behind hills, or figures set against something enormous, responds to the same approach, and the discipline of not being able to zoom wider teaches you to move your feet and find the smaller story inside the big one.

Comparison with Other Lenses

Livieri compares the Sigma 100-400mm lens with the native Fujinon 100-400mm and the lighter Fujinon 70-300mm, discussing the pros and cons of each. He notes that the short end at 100mm was a surprising limitation, not the reach at 400mm. The tripod collar is also sold separately, which he argues should be standard on a lens this long. Autofocus was quick and accurate in normal light but struggled when haze and sand killed contrast, costing him a few frames while stitching panoramas.

Conclusion and Comparison

The full breakdown of Livieri's experience with the Sigma 100-400mm lens can be seen in the video on the Fstoppers website, where he discusses his approach to photography and the benefits of using a telephoto lens. He argues that the Sigma 100-400mm lens is a good option for those looking for a telephoto lens, but it may not be the best choice for everyone. According to Livieri, the native Fujinon lenses may be a better fit for some users.

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