This article explains which lens is suitable for portraits. If you are looking for a lens for portrait photography, this article will help you.
Only when you know which lens is suitable for portraits can you choose the right lens and take satisfactory photos. The key to portrait photography is that the main subject stands out from the background. Three following elements of the lens play a decisive role in this.
Three important elements when choosing a lens for portrait
1. The aperture: Large aperture opening from F1.4 to F2.8 makes the background blurry, causing the main subject to stand out.
2. The focal length: The focal length from 50 mm to 200 mm minimizes distortion and enhances the depth effect.
3. Optical Performance: With the high-resolution lens, skin texture details are precisely preserved, effectively avoiding glare and reflections.
1. Fixed focal length
A prime lens is the name for a lens whose focal length is fixed due to its design. Typically, a prime lens has good resolving power, excellent imaging performance, and a high aperture.
A lens with a focal length of 50 mm is a classic among all types of lenses, whose image effect closely resembles the human visual impression. With an aperture of F1.4 to F1.8, a soft and blurred background can be created. It is suitable for indoor portraits and everyday shots without distortion.
The 85mm lens is considered the king of portrait photography. Its narrower field of view combined with the large aperture of F1.4 allows for a shallow depth of field, creatively highlighting the main subject. Additionally, the high-quality optics preserve fine skin texture and reduce glare, making it especially suitable for outdoor portraits or wedding shoots.
The Sirui Aurora 85mm F1.4 is a full-frame autofocus lens that perfectly combines the strengths of this classic focal length. It provides a natural image effect and a beautiful bokeh. Thanks to the large aperture, it offers excellent low-light performance as well as impressive imaging capabilities. The precise and fast autofocus is ideal for dynamic subjects such as children or animals.
Thanks to its ED lens and three high refractive lenses, it reduces edge distortions to a minimum, ensuring perfect image quality. Despite the high image quality, it is still affordable.
2. Zoom lens
A zoom lens means a lens with a variable focal length, for example 24 mm to 70 mm or 70 mm to 200 mm. A zoom lens is characterized by its variable focal length and combines wide-angle and telephoto lens functions, which is why it is suitable for a variety of scenarios.
A zoom lens with a focal length of 24 mm to 70 mm is popular. With a focal length of 24 mm, it is ideal for night shots and portraits with depth effect because the angle of view is wide, while with a focal length of 70 mm, the depth of the background can also be compressed in low light, similar to a prime lens. With the help of a large aperture, the background becomes naturally and smoothly blurred. You can adjust the focal length as needed.
A zoom lens with a focal length of 70 mm to 200 mm is advantageous for shooting subjects at a distance. A lens with a long focal length over 135 mm is ideal for moving subjects as well as distant portraits, for example, dancers or runners. However, with a small aperture, it has weaker bokeh than a prime lens.
3. Wide-angle lens
A wide-angle lens is also called a short focal length lens, whose focal length for full-frame SLR cameras is less than 40 mm, for example 35 mm, 28 mm, 24 mm, 17 mm, or 14 mm.
Since the angle of view is very wide, the relationship between people and the environment is clearly shown with a wide-angle lens. If you want to do portrait photography by the sea, a wide-angle lens with an aperture of F1.4 and a focal length of 24 mm is definitely a good alternative.
When using the wide-angle lens, distortion at the edges of the image is usually unavoidable, so it is advisable to position subjects and people in the center of the image when taking photos.
4. Macro lens
A macro lens is suitable for macro photography of special subjects. With a 1:1 magnification, it can capture hairs, skin pores, and jewelry at the micro level. Thanks to the large aperture, for example F2.8, the sharpness is optimized for local details such as lipstick or gemstones. It also enables perfect close-ups in difficult lighting conditions. It is excellent and ideal for beauty bloggers.
conclusion
Only when you know which lens is suitable for portraits can you make the right choice. In portrait photography, prime lenses, zoom lenses, wide-angle lenses, and macro lenses each have their own strengths. With a prime lens, you can precisely control the focal length, while zoom lenses offer better flexibility and allow you to quickly adapt to changing subjects. For specialized approaches, macro lenses and wide-angle lenses are good.
If you are a beginner, the 24mm to 70mm zoom lens with an aperture of F2.8, which offers versatile features at a fair price, is a good alternative. If you are a professional, the 24mm prime lens with an aperture of F1.4, which delivers premium quality, is definitely the right choice for you.
