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Shooting With Zoom for Portraits
In my little photography experience I have found that shooting with a zoom lens greatly improves my portrait shoots. The closer I get to my subject, say, using a wide angle lens, the more distortion and stretching of their face I’m going to get. Their nose is going to get enlarged, the sides of their face stretched back – in short, they’re going to look horrible, or at best, like a clown. Using a zoom or higher millimeter lens (a 55mm instead of a 18mm,) I can get a much more accurate portrait of my subject.
Below you can see the difference between lens angle of 18mm and 55mm:
18mm versus 55mm zoom for portrait photography
By being able to stand further away from the subject I create a sense of isolation and comfort for the subject, allowing them to act naturally. Getting too close to the model’s face makes them become self-conscious and stiff.
So not only does using a zoom lens, or a lens in the 55mm+ range – help tremendously to create a pleasant portrait of your subject, but it also allows your client to be able to relax and be natural. Ultimately, using the appropriate distance+zoom equals the best portraits you could imagine.
And that’s all, folks. Happy Thanksgiving!
What would an 18mm lens be best used for, in your opinion (I don’t know too much about photography)?
An 18mm lens would be good for doing interior shots of multiple people, say a family get-together, or for shooting the outside of a house, or for shooting a super-intense, dynamic portrait where you shoot the entire subject’s body and have him standing closer to the camera, so that the background stretches away. It’s weird stuff, but looks cool.
Thanks. I’ll have to look up more about it, but your explanation helps.
Sure thing! Just think of it this way: a zoom lens (say 55-200mm) is nice, but when you’re trying to take a group photo in close quarters, it becomes nearly impossible. So use wide-angle for landscapes and groups and interiors, and zooms for people, portraits, and wildlife.