I was there, I know the size, depth and majesty that was the sweeping landscape before my lens. You weren’t there so you don’t know. Now I try my best to tell that story by including a foreground, middle ground and background and while that helps, it really doesn’t convey some of the time the expanse of space the lens is encompassing. That’s why when it works, I love including a reference in the photo to give you a sense of scale to the landscape.
Shooting with other photographers, I had the opportunity to create a couple of examples. Shooting with the D5 / 70-200f4AFS I made the top photo which has the feel of a portrait but by shooting at f/4, the range out of focus in the background says just how far away they really are. Changing that up by having the person so small in the frame accomplishes the same thing. Now you might be saying, “We don’t see scale in Moose’s landscapes very often.” You’d be right that’s because, often, I don’t find scale that works photographically. So when I can find it, I love scale when it works.