Thank you for your focal length comparison video. I use the following for half-length, head & shoulder, and face beauty portraits on a full-frame camera: 85mm f/1.4 100mm f/2.8 105mm f/2.8 macro 80-200mm f/2.8 auto focus 75-150mm f/3.5 manual focus
these are all good options! me personally I use a 70-200 for beauty. from distance zoomed in you get really flattering head shots. combined w the 24-70, you get all focal points covered.
Thank you for the awesome video. I'm a beauty influencer in Korea, and I want to take close-up shots of eye and lip makeup. I'm using r50 right now, would 100mm be okay for the crop body, or would 85mm be okay? (I'm using a sigma 18-50 right now) I need some advice🥹
You give lots of good info in this video but maybe slow down a little so the newbies can process what you're saying. You could post a transcription of everything. I'm a retired photographer who also at one point in my life managed a pro camera store in SoCal. I also went to a college with a Photography department that was considered one of the best West of the Mississippi. That was back in the '70s, it may or may not be true anymore. You bring this up a little in your video but the example I learned from is a little different. This was one way I was taught to think about portrait lenses, focal length and natural perspective. In other words every focal lengths lens gives a natural perspective with a person at a certain distance and that can be equated to coverage of the subject's body. So, wider angle lenses, used at the distance that gives a natural perspective similar to the human eye, will cover a subject from head to toe. This might be in the 28mm range, when used with a full frame sensor or 35mm film. Then a 35mm lens gives you a natural perspective/body coverage from the knees to top of head, 50mm waistline to top of head, 85 chest to top of head, 100 mm head and shoulders. If I were to shoot a head and shoulder picture with a 28mm it would distort the person making things closer to the camera look bigger, like the subject's chin or nose. Using too long a telephoto lens, for a head and shoulders shot, would make farther away things look bigger, like the person's ears, or objects in the background. I had a well known LA fashion photographer friend who for years only used one lens for all his shoots, a Canon 100mm macro. For a long time photographers carried two lenses, a 70-200 f2.8 and 28-70 f 2.8 zoom and shot everything with those. Nowadays it seems (to me) that fast fixed focal length lenses are popular. I'm writing this at 5am and suffering from exhaustion from lack of sleep so please excuse my poor writing. I hope I got the concepts across. Do a search and you'll see someone's article, with images, to demonstrate the above.
This is actually really interesting! To be honest I’ve never really thought about it too much in this way, but it does make a lot of sense! Definitely something that especially beginner photographers could benefit from understanding. 🙂
Thanks so much! 😊 The setup for those photos was actually super simple! Just natural window light in the studio, along with a white polyboard to the side to fill in some of the shadow. 🙂
I tend to find broader faces look flattering with a wider angle lens, however you can still use different crops and angles with a longer focal length too. 😊
Do you photograph your subjects with each lens (50mm, 85mm, 100mm) to see which is your favorite or do you just select one millimeter out of the 85-130mm range?
I usually have a pretty good idea of which lens I prefer to use on any given day, and I'll choose a focal length straight away. This will also have other variables than just considering the model's features though. (Such as the style of shoot I'm photographing, and whether I'm shooting more than one model at a time, etc.) 🙂
If I want to shoot portrait for chest and face in small studio room, what prime lens should I be since there will small distance between camera and person? 50/75/90? Thanks 🙏🏼
I mean if you're trying to change the model's features to make them fit a more universal ideal of beauty, then sure, compress the heck of her face with a 100mm. She won't recognize herself. The model in this video has a larger nose. Compare times 1:40 and 4:20. That's why every photographer should have a fast 50mm prime in their bag.
Thank you for your focal length comparison video.
I use the following for half-length, head & shoulder, and face beauty portraits on a full-frame camera:
85mm f/1.4
100mm f/2.8
105mm f/2.8 macro
80-200mm f/2.8 auto focus
75-150mm f/3.5 manual focus
Thanks for watching and sharing! 😊
these are all good options! me personally I use a 70-200 for beauty. from distance zoomed in you get really flattering head shots. combined w the 24-70, you get all focal points covered.
Yes! A 70-200mm is really perfect for beauty too! 😁
Just the video I was looking for - thank you!!
Thank you for the awesome video. I'm a beauty influencer in Korea, and I want to take close-up shots of eye and lip makeup. I'm using r50 right now, would 100mm be okay for the crop body, or would 85mm be okay? (I'm using a sigma 18-50 right now) I need some advice🥹
One other thing about your 100 Macro, it probably has a flatter focus plane than a regular lens, which is usually a bit curved.
You give lots of good info in this video but maybe slow down a little so the newbies can process what you're saying. You could post a transcription of everything.
I'm a retired photographer who also at one point in my life managed a pro camera store in SoCal. I also went to a college with a Photography department that was considered one of the best West of the Mississippi. That was back in the '70s, it may or may not be true anymore.
You bring this up a little in your video but the example I learned from is a little different. This was one way I was taught to think about portrait lenses, focal length and natural perspective. In other words every focal lengths lens gives a natural perspective with a person at a certain distance and that can be equated to coverage of the subject's body. So, wider angle lenses, used at the distance that gives a natural perspective similar to the human eye, will cover a subject from head to toe. This might be in the 28mm range, when used with a full frame sensor or 35mm film. Then a 35mm lens gives you a natural perspective/body coverage from the knees to top of head, 50mm waistline to top of head, 85 chest to top of head, 100 mm head and shoulders.
If I were to shoot a head and shoulder picture with a 28mm it would distort the person making things closer to the camera look bigger, like the subject's chin or nose. Using too long a telephoto lens, for a head and shoulders shot, would make farther away things look bigger, like the person's ears, or objects in the background.
I had a well known LA fashion photographer friend who for years only used one lens for all his shoots, a Canon 100mm macro. For a long time photographers carried two lenses, a 70-200 f2.8 and 28-70 f 2.8 zoom and shot everything with those. Nowadays it seems (to me) that fast fixed focal length lenses are popular.
I'm writing this at 5am and suffering from exhaustion from lack of sleep so please excuse my poor writing. I hope I got the concepts across. Do a search and you'll see someone's article, with images, to demonstrate the above.
This is actually really interesting! To be honest I’ve never really thought about it too much in this way, but it does make a lot of sense! Definitely something that especially beginner photographers could benefit from understanding. 🙂
great video as usual, kayleigh! could you give us some insight into the lighting setup of these pictures?
Thanks so much! 😊
The setup for those photos was actually super simple! Just natural window light in the studio, along with a white polyboard to the side to fill in some of the shadow. 🙂
Can you suggest which one to go for broader faces …
I tend to find broader faces look flattering with a wider angle lens, however you can still use different crops and angles with a longer focal length too. 😊
Do you photograph your subjects with each lens (50mm, 85mm, 100mm) to see which is your favorite or do you just select one millimeter out of the 85-130mm range?
I usually have a pretty good idea of which lens I prefer to use on any given day, and I'll choose a focal length straight away. This will also have other variables than just considering the model's features though. (Such as the style of shoot I'm photographing, and whether I'm shooting more than one model at a time, etc.) 🙂
Great points~~
This was very helpful! Thank you ❤
What's the best lens to use for model Jewelry photography?
If I want to shoot portrait for chest and face in small studio room, what prime lens should I be since there will small distance between camera and person? 50/75/90? Thanks 🙏🏼
Voigtländer 110 mm f/2.5 APO Lanthar 😁
hi there whats the monitor behind you? :) thank you love your content so much!!!
Thank you! My monitor is the Dell UltraSharp 27 4K Monitor - U2720Q, there's a link in the description. 🙂
I mean if you're trying to change the model's features to make them fit a more universal ideal of beauty, then sure, compress the heck of her face with a 100mm. She won't recognize herself. The model in this video has a larger nose. Compare times 1:40 and 4:20. That's why every photographer should have a fast 50mm prime in their bag.