I couldn’t have asked for a better composition if I had posed this shot myself, but this is just a random woman sitting on a rock, using her phone—while the dog stands guard.
Best viewed at full size to see the texture of the greenery. Love the dog; he’s clearly a dog’s dog.
Technical stuff: Shot with Sony A7r IV and Canon 300mm f/2.8L IS II lens with 1.4x extender. I was about a quarter of a mile away; the long lens + extender makes it look much closer than it was. Exposure was with ISO 100, f/5, and 1/320th of a second. The f/5 aperture was to make sure that the key areas of the photo were sharp (to show texture). The relatively fast shutter speed was to avoid blur from camera movements. Granted, I was shooting with a monopod, but it’s not as steady as a tripod. And subjects can move—leaves, dogs, people all move when you least expect it.
The 300mm lens is a favorite of mine, but it only works on 35mm cameras—I can’t use it with my medium format camera. It has a special quality to it, a feel that I like a lot. (I’ve tried other long lenses; none of them are as sharp or as good at rendering warm, natural colors as this Canon lens.)
Another issue is ease of use. One gains a lot in detail and sharpness with most medium format lenses and sensors, but the camera are slow to work with. A quick grab like this is only possible with the 35mm format. The Canon lens was designed as a sports lens, and it is really fast to focus.