- In today's episode of "Artisan Advice"
we're going to think outside the lens
and look at three surprisingly great lenses for
portrait photography that you may not have thought to use.
A lens that recently stormed its way into
my portrait work is the 200-600 millimeter G Series lens.
I made an entire video about this lens that will be linked
in the description below
but the main thing you need to know here is
that it's not just for sports and wildlife photography.
Working in those longer focal ranges outdoors
can often take a boring location
like the parking lot at my studio and turn it
into something that looks much more visually appealing.
One thing that really surprised me
with this lens is the bokeh that it produces.
You might think that having a variable F 5.6 to 6.3 aperture
that you won't be able to isolate your subject
the way that you can with an F 1.4 lens, but check this out.
When you're shooting at those longer focal ranges,
even at those narrow F stops,
you get beautiful subject separation
and your background is still blurred beautifully.
If you want your work to look different
than the majority of photographers out there,
this is a lens you definitely want to try out.
This next lens was another one that surprised me
from the very first time that I used it
and that's the Sony 40 millimeter F 2.5 G Series lens.
This compact prime lens is
among the smallest and lightest available in Sony's lineup
but it doesn't skimp on performance.
When I took this lens out for a portrait shoot,
at first I thought it was going to be more
of a travel lens since 40 millimeters is really close
to the perspective of the human eye,.
Well, it turns out that it's actually pretty amazing
for environmental portraiture as well.
I'm a huge fan
of bringing the best quality optics when I shoot outdoors
that also happens to be easy to carry
and this checks all of those boxes.
The F 2.5 aperture also gives you gorgeous bokeh
and that 40 millimeter focal length is really
a sweet spot when you want to capture sharp images
of your subject
while getting a nice perspective of their surroundings.
Hey, don't make the mistake that I made of thinking
this is just a cute travel lens.
It is a silent assassin for portrait work as well.
When I say macro lens,
what kind of images comes to your mind?
For me, I think of closeup images
of coins or bugs, but did you know that you could take
some next level portraits using a macro lens too?
One of my all-time favorite lenses for Sony cameras
is the 90 millimeter F 2.8 G Series macro.
It does something niche when it comes to
portrait photography, which is to give you a level
of detail and sharpness that's hard to find
in just about any other lens out there.
For example, in my beauty work
the 90 macro enhances the texture
of the skin, hair, accessories, and wardrobe of my subjects
and it's all done in camera.
Anytime you want to get the maximum levels
of sharpness and detail, don't make the mistake of thinking
that you could just sharpen your images in post.
The results are completely different
and from my experience
people will notice that something has been done to
alter the image in post-production.
If you want a more natural looking sharpness
than using a lens like this is truly unbeatable.
Fast and accurate focusing along with a lightweight,
durable build make this a lens that I think every portrait
photographer should have in their bag, especially
if you pair it up with a high resolution camera
like the Sony Alpha 7R5.
Anyway, these three lenses are some of the lenses
that I think people are surprised to see being
used in the portrait world, but I'm curious to
hear which lenses that you like that might not
traditionally be seen as a portrait lens.
Let's talk about it in the comments section below.
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I've got a bunch of great advice
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See you there.