>>2645493Steve McCurry, according to the interwebs, used a telephoto lens (105mm or 180mm) on Afghan Girl. But there are countless portraits taken with those focal lengths, and they don't have the same impact as Afghan Girl due to a number of reasons. Afghan Girl wouldn't be what it is if Steve didn't see how striking she was in her appearance... you can't make stunning portraits without a stunning subject. Watch an interview with him, and you're bound to hear what his process is when taking portraits.
Both Steve McCurry and Ansel Adams actually looked for moments to take a picture. Ansel didn't just go out to some random field and take a picture, he looked for a beautiful field with beautiful lighting, took a picture... and then did plenty of post-processing when making prints. He also used large format cameras to get insane detail. Steve McCurry didn't take portraits of just anyone, and a lot of his great photos were also taken on Kodachrome film (a slide film), which gives colors much different than normal color-negative film and digital cameras, and therefore a different effect.
Point is, the focal length isn't all that matters here. If you want to make those empty fields and coke cans look great, they (the subject and the whole frame) need to actually look great. The focal length decides only what you see in the frame, and also how you see it in terms of perspective. That's very important, but there's more to it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySeDumHunQwhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0plNvaR0bghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njhkRyw3CKo 
