3
Choose the best lens for portraits

It is generally accepted that the best lens for portraiture is one that offers a short telephoto setting of between 50mm and 135mm. This focal length produces a very flattering perspective and allows you to shoot from a good working distance. This means a standard zoom (e.g., a 28–80mm) is suitable at its tele end; the short end of a telephoto zoom (e.g., a 70–210mm) is also good. Wide-angle lenses are not the best choice for general portraiture, as they exaggerate perspective – they can make noses look overly large, as well as shrinking ears. While most zooms are suitable for portraits, you should also consider prime lenses such as 85mm or 135mm. These lenses are designed primarily for portraits and offer very sharp optics as well as a fast maximum aperture; this is useful when you want to throw the background out of focus.

PERFECT PORTRAIT

This very simple composition illustrates all the advantages of shooting with a fast lens at the optimum portrait focal length. The subject’s features appear to their greatest advantage and, by selecting the maximum aperture, the background is thrown totally out of focus. Cheaper lenses usually deliver their worst optical performance at their widest aperture setting, but a pro-spec Canon zoom ensured the optics delivered a sharp result at f/2.8.

Canon EOS-1DS, 70–200mm f/2.8 lens at 135mm, 1/200 sec at f/2.8, ISO 400.