What impact do different focal lengths have on portrait photography?

When we take portraits, we all have our own favorite lenses, or we use a medium telephoto lens, such as a lens of about 85mm-135mm, so that the portrait and the background can be better separated and highlighted. For portraits, you can also shoot with a wide angle, such as 35mm or 28mm, to capture more of the environment. Or simply use a wider lens to shoot for some special effects.

How much impact does using different focal lengths have on portraits?

Photographer Julia Trotti conducted an experiment. She used five fixed-focus lenses from 24mm to 135mm to shoot portraits to see what kind of images could be captured under different circumstances.

The camera she uses is Canon 5D Mark IV, and the five lenses used are:

Sigma 24mm f/1.4

Canon 35mm f/1.4Mk II

Canon 50mm f/1.2Mk II

Canon 85mm f/1.2Mk II

Canon 135mm f/2.0

First, Both she and the model stood in the same position, using five lenses to take pictures, and got the following five photos:

We can clearly see that the biggest difference is the subject of the model The size changes, 24mm is far away, 35mm is good for adapting to the environment, 50mm is a good full-length shot, 85mm is a standard American shot, and 135mm is a standard half-length shot.

Another significant change is the bokeh. At the 24mm and 35mm ends, the background is completely substituted and you can clearly see the background. Starting from 50mm, the background becomes obviously blurred. , at 135mm, the background is almost blurred out.

Then the photographer started a second series of full-body photos.

That is, the position of the model remains unchanged, but the position of the photographer changes. The goal is that although different focal lengths are used to shoot, the proportion of the model in the picture should be equal. The photographer uses five lenses I took the following five photos:

This comparison is more intuitive. Telephoto can bring an obvious sense of space compression, and the longer the focal length, the more obvious the background is blurred, which can be better to separate the subject from the background. As for the impact of different focal lengths on the model's body, everyone needs to feel it for themselves.

In the third set of photos, photographer Trotti took horizontal photos, taking the view from the model’s knees upward:

The fourth set of photos is a close-up portrait of the model:

Of course, depending on the model itself and the scene to be photographed, the effects we can obtain may be different. Sometimes we think telephoto is good-looking, and sometimes we think wide-angle is ideal. There will never be one lens that is suitable for every scene, or you should choose a more suitable lens according to different scenes.

Although usually people like to use medium and telephoto lenses to shoot portraits, this does not mean that we must abandon wide-angle lenses. Even though a wide-angle lens may produce some distortion, it’s not necessarily a bad thing. It all depends on what kind of effect we want to shoot. Sometimes, some distortion may also be our creative choice.

What is your favorite portrait lens?