What type of optical lenses do I need to purchase to take shoots about 300 meters away?

I just got my new D3100 and I'm considering purchasing long range lenses compatible with the Nikon D3100. I would like to take pictures of a maximum range of 300 to 400 meters away. Any suggestions please?

Depends on how good a magnification you need. You have two options: a) Either a Nikkor lens or b) a lens from another manufacturer with a Nikkor mount. Then two other options a) a Zoom lens - for instance a zoom of 300 to 600 mm will help you to get the required 'depth of field'' or b) a Telephoto lens, which will get the larger image at a fixed focal length like 600 mm, but there will be hardly any depth of field. Best option is Nikkor Zoom, but they are expensive. So if your budget is an issue then look at other options.
Go the lens shop with your camera, and try a few lenses from their display before settling for something. You will also need a very good Tripod, becasue the bigger lenses are also heavier. You will also need a remote controlled shutter release to avoid camera shake at that distance. Buy also an uV filter to protect the lens. Other stuff you can do with photoshop rather than the old way of adding filters.

There's no way to answer this unless you include the information what size the thing is that you want to shoot from that distance. Is it paparazzi portraits or elephants? Also, what is your budget? Those lenses range from $150 to $26, 000 and beyond.

http://www.amazon.com/...B0013DAPNU

You can take a picture of something 500m away with a fisheye, a macro lens, a wide angle lens, a normal or standard lens, a short telephoto lens, a tilt-shift lens, a pinhole lens, a magnifying lens, your contact lens, the lens in the peephole at your door and a super telephoto lens. Wait! You can take a picture of something up to infinity using any lens.

What's important is focal length (or angle of view). Now, how much of the scene would you want to put in the picture? That would now decide what focal length (in mm) should you buy. The lesser mm the lens has, the wider the angle of view, the smaller the subject becomes in the picture. In reverse, the more mm the lens has, the narrower the angle of view, the larger the subject appears in the picture.

Somewhere in this article is a link to a page that shows the effect of various focal lengths.

http://keerok-photography.blogspot.com/2011/05/lenses-so-many-of-them-there-is-no-best.html