In this video I explore how shooting with different focal lengths will change
the look of your portraits.
Hello I'm Gavin Hoey and you are watching AdoramaTV, brought to you by Adorama the
camera store that has everything for us photographers.
Now I'm working in my small studio and often I find I shoot a lot more
headshots than I do full length portraits and I think that's just down to the
physical size of the space.
I've also got a range of focal lengths to use. I've got everything from wide angle
lenses to telephoto lenses but what's the best focal length for shooting
headshots.
Well I'm going to do a little experiment in this video by shooting the same shot
with lots of different focal lengths and we'll see how they compare.
So let's get a lighting setup, a model in and get shooting.
So once again I've been joined by Fern who's going to be the model for this
shoot and help us with this little experiment. Now before we go through the
photography, let's run through the lighting.
I'm using a fairly straightforward classic beauty lighting or clamshell
lighting.
That's my Streaklight 360 in a small soft box and a white reflector below,
just to bounce a bit of light underneath to fill the shadows but to make it more
interesting I've also added background lights. We've got a nice gel on the
background here and two separation lights, just a couple of speed lights.
Those are going to help just to give a little bit more of an edge around Fern's
face, make the shot a bit more interesting, but also we can tell, then, whether the
the lighting is affected by the focal length of the lens. So I'm going to start
taking my pictures with the wide angle lens, I've got a 12mm lens that
would be the equivalent of a 24mm lens on a full frame camera.
I'm using Micro Four Thirds. So 24mm lens, that is a wide lens. That's
not normally something I would use for a head-and-shoulders portrait.
So to use it, well I actually can't get close enough. Now I want to frame all of
my shots up the same. Basically just below the dress, just above the head. Now
to get that framing I have to lean in with my camera,
a crazy amount and I get some really weird distortions.
This is not a good lens focal length for portraits.
Also, the wide field of view is causing a couple of problems.
I'm almost getting the edge of the speedlights, a bit of flare there and the
background looks way thinner than it really is.
Now I do use a wide angle lens in portraiture, in my little studio.
There are times you have to do that with a small studio space but I generally
keep those either for creative effects or for shooting much wider shots, group
shots, that kind of thing, where I'm backed up quite a bit further.
Let's go for 25mm or the equivalent of a 50mm on a full
frame camera.
This is kind of the classic focal length for shooting portraits
How does it work? Well when I come here I see the same framing, a nice comfortable
distance away from the model and comfortable distance is important,
because if you go too close, you invade their personal space,
you make them feel uncomfortable, you may not realize you're doing it when you're
looking through the viewfinder. The picture actually looks pretty good
the distortion on the face has almost gone. That's great.
The field of view, well I'm still getting a little bit of flare from those flashes
at the edges. It's not completely gone but the background does at least fit
into the frame with this field of view.
Although for me it's perhaps just a little bit dark on the vignetting around
the outside.
So in order to double from 50-100mm, I need to change my
lens, so I now have my little tiny 40-150. Remember I double everything with Micro
Four Thirds. So 50mm on my Micro Four Thirds, 100mm on
a full frame. That means I get to step backwards.
So this is good. This means I'm a little bit further away. I get that nice distance of
communication. I can still communicate and explain what I need Fern to do. This
for me is kind of my ideal focal length for portraits and that really shows in
the picture as well. There's no distortion in the face, there's no lens
flare anymore. That's all been solved. The tighter field of view
just crops into that background a little bit more, gives a really nice background coverage.
So doubling from 50 to 100mm,
that's 200 mm
on a full frame camera, that means we're got to get much further back.
How much further back? Well I'm only in a small studio. I've got to get a lot further
back.
I've got to be pretty much where you guys are to get my shot
So this is where a small studio can become a real problem, because you just
don't get the amount of space that you need. Sometimes with these longer focal
lengths, yeah they can give flattering shots but what you need is the physical
space and small studios don't always give you that space. But if you have it,
this looks really good.
Again no distortion, no lens flare much tighter field of view this time so I'm
getting even less vignetting on the background.
It's very similar in many respects to the 100m shot,
I could be happy with either. Well this lens will go that little bit further. It
will go up to 300mm. It's got to be worth a try hasn't it, so
300mm, let's take a shot like that and for that I've got to go way
back.
Well you can see the problem with the 300 mm lens.
I don't actually fit in the studio anymore. To get this framed up properly,
I'm just outside, a little bit of lateral thinking.
Yeah I mean this works but I've got a few problems. Obviously a small studio,
lack of room and also communication. Fern can barely see me, let alone
hear me so whilst this will work and I can take a picture
it's not exactly practical. I'm going back in, I think. So I guess the question
is which is the best focal length for portraits and the answer is, well, all of
them, because it's up to you.
It depends on the style of shot you want. If you want to do a crazy wacky wide angle shot,
then do that shot. That's fine. If you have the space and you want to do a 300mm
shot,
great. Go for it. It's all down to the design of the picture you want. Feel free
to experiment and that's what we're going to do now.
We're going to get a little prop for Fern to play with and we'll take a few shots,
change things around ever so slightly and try a few different focal lengths and
see what works.
OK Fern, are you ready?
Well that wide angle lens shot might be a bit of an acquired taste
and definitely not something you're going to do every single time but trust
me, it's not the widest angle lens I have in my kit bag.
So if you want to see more videos from myself and the other amazing presenters
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I'm Gavin Hoey thanks for watching.