Lens Guide | Picking the PERFECT Portrait Lens
Behind lighting, choosing the "right" lens is the second most important decision you'll make when you're photographing anyone. Why? Because the lens you choose can make someone look completely different from what he or she looks like in person due to focal length, distance from the subject, aperture, and lens distortion.
Simultaneously, lens choice will also dictate your viewing angle and crop, restricting or enabling what you're capable of photographing. For example, it's physically impossible to photograph a subject with a full-frame camera and a 70–200mm lens in an 8ft square room. You won't have enough distance to see your subject full-length.
My point is, beyond lighting, don't forget to think about what lens you're picking up and how it'll impact the image you're going to create. To make your life easier, I'm going to provide you with a "cheat sheet" for how I use individual focal lengths to photograph anyone.
On a final note, let me be straightforward and honest. If you cannot afford to purchase an f/1.2 lens, don't. Invest in what you can afford, and don't break the bank. The lenses that I've listed here are part of my photography kit but took me years to acquire. I've made some AMAZING images with third-party lenses that have proved their merit in the field.
24–70mm
A 24–70mm lens is the most used lens in my arsenal, and I take one with me everywhere. Why? I find it to be the most versatile lens in my kit. Whether I'm shooting fashion or portraits, I have a combination of focal lengths to tackle a wide variety of situations. It allows me to capture the environment at 24mm, a cinematic focal length at 35mm, and photograph my subjects at 70mm for a beautifully compressed portrait.
As an important side note, I always recommend buying the lens with the widest aperture that you can afford for two reasons. The first is that a shallower depth of field allows you to focus on your subject and hide your background in bokeh, which is invaluable for less than tidy or uninteresting backgrounds. The second reason is that it allows more light into your camera when working in dimly lit environments.
35mm
If you're looking for cinematic style portraits or love street photography, pick up a 35mm lens. That's not a subjective comment. Traditionally production films and journalists have loved the 35mm focal length because it enables you to capture a great deal of the background without the distortion you'd find at 24mm. Because a 35mm is a prime lens, you'll also notice that they're much lighter than their tele-zoom counterparts.
I'm also a proponent of using 35mm on fashion sets because I can include the background in the frame. It is important to note that 35mm is a wide lens, and if used as a portrait lens will distort the face and make it look wider in the camera.
85mm
The 85mm lens is a great portrait lens, with a beautiful shallow depth of field, and it's a lot less bulky to carry around than a 70–200mm lens for portraits. You'll also have much better lens compression compared to using a 50mm lens.
70–200mm
The 70–200mm lens is one of the most popular lenses among portrait photographers because of its beautiful and realistic visual compression. The 70–200mm lens usually comes in either an f/2.8 or an f/4 model. Price aside; if I had to choose between the two, I would recommend going with the f/2.8 because of the more aesthetically pleasing bokeh they create.
Macro Lens
In my opinion, the macro lens is one of the most underrated and underutilized portrait lenses. While macro lenses are specifically designed for macro photography, they make fantastic portrait lenses because they're designed to minimize lens distortion and have a beautiful shallow depth of field.
Some photographers would argue that most photographers don't use macro lenses because of how razor-thin the depth of field is. They are right. In untrained hands, this narrow plane can be burdensome to capture focus, and you may find that you'll need to take an additional photograph or two to nail focus. I find that shooting at higher shutter speeds and using "back-button" focus, however, really enables me to nail focus almost every time.
In addition to using it for a standard portrait, you also have the ability to focus on objects less than a foot away from your subject.
