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Best lenses for capturing portraits

Started 1 week ago | Discussions
Ava00
Ava00 New Member • Posts: 12
Best lenses for capturing portraits

Hi, I'm Ava and I'm a beginner photographer interested in portrait photography. I'm curious, what are some of the best lenses for capturing stunning portraits?

TomS53 Senior Member • Posts: 2,037
Re: Best lenses for capturing portraits
1

Ava00 wrote:

Hi, I'm Ava and I'm a beginner photographer interested in portrait photography. I'm curious, what are some of the best lenses for capturing stunning portraits?

Ava, Welcome to the forums.  You may get more/better advise if you would add your camera or planned camera/system so others may assist you.  Stay Safe!

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AstroVagabond
AstroVagabond Senior Member • Posts: 1,397
Re: Best lenses for capturing portraits
2

Ava00 wrote:

Hi, I'm Ava and I'm a beginner photographer interested in portrait photography. I'm curious, what are some of the best lenses for capturing stunning portraits?

Can you further qualify your meaning of portrait? Is it a headshot? Is it more than one person? Is it shoulder up? Is it full length?

And when you say best lenses what do you mean? Do you mean focal length(s)? Do you mean the speed of the lens?

As a portrait photographer I may use a variety of focal lengths based upon what the client thinks of a portrait in their mind for example.

Welcome to the forum!

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Ava00
OP Ava00 New Member • Posts: 12
Re: Best lenses for capturing portraits

Well, so far I've taken headshots and it's usually one person. I have a Canon eos 2000d camera. Yes, I'm more interested in the speed of the lens.

Ava00
OP Ava00 New Member • Posts: 12
Re: Best lenses for capturing portraits

I have a Canon eos 2000d camera.

AstroVagabond
AstroVagabond Senior Member • Posts: 1,397
Re: Best lenses for capturing portraits

Ava00 wrote:

Well, so far I've taken headshots and it's usually one person. I have a Canon eos 2000d camera. Yes, I'm more interested in the speed of the lens.

If you follow the link below you will find portraits. If you click on an image, some will give details on camera and lens used:

https://www.flickr.com/search/?text=Portrait

While I shot many portraits with a Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 lens, most times in the studio I shot at a focal length of ~ 100 - 105mm with an aperture of f/8.0. This was when I was using a Canon 6D.

These days as a Fuji shooter my go to headshot lens is a 56mm f/1.2. Again however in the studio I typically use an aperture of f/8.0.

When I say in studio, that means I'm using flash or monolight lighting.

When I'm shooting in natural light I may use an aperture of f/2.8 with the Canon lens and f/2.0 with my Fuji 56mm to blur the background.

Since I'm not sure of your current knowledge I'll stop here.

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Felice62 Veteran Member • Posts: 5,063
Re: Best lenses for capturing portraits

You have an APS-C sensor I would recommend to begin with a fast-ish lens like the ef-s 50mm f/1.8 it's a decent lens for portraiture.

Other choices may include sigma 60/2.8 sigma 56/1.4

Shooting extremely fast lenses imposes a severe control on depth of filed. As you declare yourself a beginner I wouldn't recommend to skip all the process and moving to the battlefield immediately

Good luck with your choice

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Martin_99 Veteran Member • Posts: 4,632
Re: Best lenses for capturing portraits

Ava00 wrote:

Well, so far I've taken headshots and it's usually one person. I have a Canon eos 2000d camera. Yes, I'm more interested in the speed of the lens.

For headshots I would choose 85f1.8 or f1.4/f1.2 lenses based on your budget.

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Andersonm Contributing Member • Posts: 951
Re: Best lenses for capturing portraits
1

You have an EF-S camera, so you would need an EF or EF-S lens. This rules out a few, including the Sigma 56mm. I agree on the EF 50mm 1.8. It’s cheap, and since you are only using the center part of it (with an aps-c sensor) it will be better than otherwise.

A fast lens is useful to help practice depth of field choices. Sadly, not many fast EF-S lenses, so you have to go for the larger EF lenses. You cannot use EF-M lenses.

Note that most of the contribution to a stunning portrait doesn’t come from the lens. A large part comes from the light.

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Klaus dk
Klaus dk Veteran Member • Posts: 9,755
50% Psychology, 45% Light, 5% Gear
1

Ava00 wrote:

Hi, I'm Ava and I'm a beginner photographer interested in portrait photography. I'm curious, what are some of the best lenses for capturing stunning portraits?

For your camera, I'd choose the Sigma 50-100 f/1.8 DC HSM Art, but as the headline suggests, it's not very important compared to your people and lighting skills.

I've taken a lot of inspiration from this book: Gregory Heisler. 50 Portraits. He writes about the distance between subject and photographer: "Distance is a funny thing in portraiture: it can work for you or against you. There's a bubble of intimacy, and you don't want it to burst. If you're too far from the subject, the connection is lost; if you're too close, it's threathened. And then there's the question of scale: How much of this person do we want to see? How big is this person in the frame? Do the eyes say it all? The set of the shoulders? How do they sit or stand? What about their clothing? Are they better isolated or seen in context? These are just some of the many considerations that come into play, occasionally resolved in advance, but more often split-second decisions made on the fly in response to the subject, situation, or moment."

To me, that is a strong argument for a zoom for portraits.

What are your thoughts on lighting?

Good luck and good light.

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TheGrammarFairy Contributing Member • Posts: 545
Much more important….

For portraits any lens over about 50mm will be fine; what you need much more is a tripod, a light stand, an A-clamp, and a 2x3 sheet of foamcore board that’s white on one side and black on the other.

You put your camera on the tripod and clamp the foamcore on the light stand and use the white side to bounce fill  light onto the face of your subject or the black side to block out any light that’s ugly.

You need a tripod because you’ll be very busy directing your subject and will need your hands free to make gestures to guide their poses (you never generally touch people when you’re shooti g them.)

Leswick II Senior Member • Posts: 2,192
Re: Best lenses for capturing portraits
1

I'm with those who say that lighting is crucially important....and often more so than a lens.  You could get a mannequin head and experiment as much as necessary to appreciate how the light should fall on the person.  Best of luck.

thinkinginimages
thinkinginimages Senior Member • Posts: 2,438
Re: Best lenses for capturing portraits

Ava00 wrote:

I have a Canon eos 2000d camera.

Nice camera. I prefer a short telephoto. On your camera that would be somewhere between 75mm and 90mm, give or take.

Portrait subjects can get a little squirrelly if you're too close. They feel "under the microscope". It also gives you enough distance to get lights close to the camera.

The rest is really lighting technique. Think "big". Take a look at old Hollywood portraits. See how lighting and shadows played off the faces and clothing.

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AstroVagabond
AstroVagabond Senior Member • Posts: 1,397
Re: Best lenses for capturing portraits

Ava00 wrote:

Well, so far I've taken headshots and it's usually one person. I have a Canon eos 2000d camera. Yes, I'm more interested in the speed of the lens.

Is it your plan to make a business out of shooting portraits?

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thinkinginimages
thinkinginimages Senior Member • Posts: 2,438
Re: 50% Psychology, 45% Light, 5% Gear

Klaus dk wrote:

Ava00 wrote:

Hi, I'm Ava and I'm a beginner photographer interested in portrait photography. I'm curious, what are some of the best lenses for capturing stunning portraits?

For your camera, I'd choose the Sigma 50-100 f/1.8 DC HSM Art, but as the headline suggests, it's not very important compared to your people and lighting skills.

I've taken a lot of inspiration from this book: Gregory Heisler. 50 Portraits. He writes about the distance between subject and photographer: "Distance is a funny thing in portraiture: it can work for you or against you. There's a bubble of intimacy, and you don't want it to burst. If you're too far from the subject, the connection is lost; if you're too close, it's threathened. And then there's the question of scale: How much of this person do we want to see? How big is this person in the frame? Do the eyes say it all? The set of the shoulders? How do they sit or stand? What about their clothing? Are they better isolated or seen in context? These are just some of the many considerations that come into play, occasionally resolved in advance, but more often split-second decisions made on the fly in response to the subject, situation, or moment."

To me, that is a strong argument for a zoom for portraits.

What are your thoughts on lighting?

Good luck and good light.

I've never seen/heard "bubble of intimacy", but I like that. Get too close and the subject can see their reflection in the lens. They may get self conscious and "pose". People have physical boundaries.

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TheGrammarFairy Contributing Member • Posts: 545
Re: Best lenses for capturing portraits

Yes! Even just a $10 styrofoam head from the art supply store will do wonders for your skills.

Leswick II wrote:

I'm with those who say that lighting is crucially important....and often more so than a lens. You could get a mannequin head and experiment as much as necessary to appreciate how the light should fall on the person. Best of luck.

Ava00
OP Ava00 New Member • Posts: 12
Re: 50% Psychology, 45% Light, 5% Gear

Thank you very much for the book recommendation, I will definitely read it.

D500Fan_1961 New Member • Posts: 12
Re: Best lenses for capturing portraits

Ava00 wrote:

Hi, I'm Ava and I'm a beginner photographer interested in portrait photography. I'm curious, what are some of the best lenses for capturing stunning portraits?

I'm not dismissing the unsolicited advice to learn lighting, and I would add angle to that. As to what lens will get the job done, an f/2.8 70-200mm lens will get you back far enough to avoid distorting effects for headshots and will blur the background nicely.

D500Fan_1961 New Member • Posts: 12
Re: 50% Psychology, 45% Light, 5% Gear

Klaus dk wrote:

For your camera, I'd choose the Sigma 50-100 f/1.8 DC HSM Art,

Crazy sharp, even wide open. However, I find its bokeh often problematic. If you are in control of the background or don't care about occasionally overly busy bokeh (just my opinion), then it really is a nice lens.

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