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‹ Photo Notes · 7 listopadu, 2014
One of the well-worn stereotypes is that a portrait means photographing or painting someone’s face, head and part of the shoulders. From that comes the frequent recommendation of „portrait lenses“ with a focal length between 85 and 135 mm.
These lenses are excellent and perfectly suited to detailed shots of the face, but I disagree with the term „portrait lens“.
A portrait is a descriptive depiction of a person or persons, and nowhere is it defined that it must be limited to a crop of the head. A portrait can quite well be a full figure or, for example in the case of a family portrait, a whole group of figures. What makes a portrait a portrait is its character, not the format of the crop.
In that case almost any focal length comes into consideration, depending on how we want to photograph our portrait. When somebody tells you that, for example, 35 mm is not a suitable portrait lens, they mostly reveal only how they themselves photograph portraits.
This morning I came across a discussion on Facebook. A lady asked whether she should buy a 35 or a 50 mm, saying she mostly photographs portraits and her family. One of the answers caught my attention: a lens was recommended according to space – for up to 20 to 30 square metres buy the 35 mm, for larger spaces the 50 mm. Although I understand what the person meant, the advice struck me as amusing but above all absurd for a beginner. It was about photographing children, not an interior – a suitable lens should always be chosen for the subject and the way I want to depict it, not for the space in which I’ll be shooting (the children).
Have a nice weekend 🙂
We devote ourselves to photographing people with an emphasis on proportions, expression, light and the like at nude photography workshops