Telephoto / long focal length
For other examples:
Philip-Lorca diCorcia p. 91
Here René Burri uses a telephoto lens to capture a group of men engaged in a kind of Ocean’s Eleven walk on top of a São Paulo skyscraper. Whatever the reason for their meeting, up here, no one risks being overheard.
This kind of shot is only possible with a telephoto lens, as the high magnification allows you to home in on small details from a much bigger scene. If shot using a shorter focal length, then these men would be an insignificant detail within a sprawling cityscape.
The telephoto lens causes something else to happen too. Notice how the space or depth in this image feels somehow odd.
Telephoto lenses give the illusion of compressing depth, making everything seem ‘flatter’.
See how prominent that long avenue is within the composition. Rather than leading us into the distance, it appears like a flat, vertical strip running up the image. And look at the angles of the buildings, they seem more like layered cut-out shapes than three-dimensional objects.
This apparent flatness is a signature effect of a telephoto lens and it causes images to look more graphic.
São Paulo, Brazil
René Burri
1960