Portraiture Photography Tips | Choosing The Right Lens

© 2014 Wazari Wazir | Mother and Daughter at The Park

© 2014 Wazari Wazir | Mother and Daughter at KLCC Park

As photographer we are also a visual story teller, unlike a writers we tell a story with a photograph that we took, sometimes we can tell a story with just a single photograph and sometimes with a set off photographs like in photo essay.

The lens that we choose and the aperture that we set will determine the output of the photograph or the story that we wanted to tell, actually it is more than that, the choice of Shutter Speed also will have an effect on the story that we wanted to tell, but here I’m going to share with you about choosing the right lens.

The top photograph were taken with 70-200 mm lens set at f/4, that’s why you get a blurry background, the background does;t have much to add context to the photograph, it doesn’t have any prominent landmark to tell you where the photograph were taken, I mean the background is not very important in the visual story for that particular photograph, it was taken at the park, which can be anywhere in Malaysia. The main subject in the photograph is my wife and my daughter, so to make them stand out, I choose f/4 to blur the background and make them stand out.

On the second photograph, I use a wide angle lens and choose an aperture of f/8, to get the background also in focus, why? Simply because the background was important in this photograph, the story is about my wife and daughter having a great time in front of Malaysia well known icon which is the Petronas Twin Towers in the background. Actually even though I use big aperture like f/4 on my wide angle lens, the tower behind will still recognizable but I chose f/8 to get everything in focus.

My point is that, in portrait photography, we need not only use what is so called of “Portrait Lens” which ideally should be in the range of 85 mm and above,  some photographer I know shoot a portrait session with 135 mm, 200 mm, even there is 300mm as well. Most of these telephoto lens are suitable to throw away the background out of focus and make your subject the centre of attention. But sometimes there is a photographer who like to use wide angle lens like 35 mm fixed focal length as their portrait lens, normally this kind of a photographer like to shoot an environmental  portraiture. A portrait of their subject in a recognisable environment.

Last tips from me, if you are planning to go on a holiday, the best lens I think is a wide angle lens, so you can include all the landmark in the background. There is no point taking a photograph in front of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul using 50 mm at f/1.2, Hagia Sophia will look like a background in a photography studio then. You don’t need the background to be super sharp but sharp enough for us to know what it is behind you.

When talking about casual traveling  a lens in the range of 16-35 mm, 17-40 mm, 18-135 mm, 24-70 mm, 24 -120 mm are the ideal lens. But if were to ask me, which angle fixed focal length that I like to use or have, it will be definitely classic 35 mm. Yes, it is not wide enough but 35 mm have less distortion compared to much wider lens. Talking about the photograph of my wife and daughter at KLCC Park there, yes you need super wide angle because the building is so tall if you need to get everything in the frame, 35 mm lens on full frame body can’t make it.