(Yes, I’m stressing this point, because it’s important)
#Portrait professional vs portraiture series
To recreate your own series of photos like mine above… All the YouTube videos and blog posts in the world about portrait focal length won’t teach you as much as this five minute exercise… It’s always best to do something for yourself so that you can see the results and know what was involved. However, whilst a longer portrait focal length (narrower field of view) will flatten the middle of a photo, and therefore make a big nose seem smaller, after a certain point, it will also start to widen a face.Ībove from left: 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, 70mm. A wide angle will make noses and foreheads grow!
The shorter your choice of portrait focal length (wider field of view), the more the middle of the photo is going to balloon forward. the shape and proportions of your subject’s face.Your choice of focal length for portraits will have a big impact on the image. It’s a good question and there’s a good reason why portrait photographers obsess over focal length. After all, what’s the point of great depth of field if your subject is distorted, because you used an unflattering focal length for portraits? What type of lens is best for portrait photography? Once you know the effect a particular focal length will have and how close or far you need to be from your subject with that portrait focal length, you can start looking at other aspects of portrait lenses. These are all very interesting and relevant if you want certain results, but before you get into thinking about the best lens for portraits, first think about the best focal length for portraits. As photographers we get very involved in thinking about the maximum aperture of a lens, the make of a lens and creating great background blur.