When photographing portraits, focal length will play in important role in the attractiveness of your subjects. This is what I was telling people when I was seeking a model for this exercise. The first thing that came to mind for them is ‘she’s going to make me look unattractive first!’ I got a lot of firm no’s. Especially as these images would be made public for anyone to see. So, eventually with much resistance one morning I said to my husband ‘just let me take five photos quickly and we’ll say no more about it’. He was tired, agreed and here we are.
The purpose of this exercise is to demonstrate the different results you will get with the same subject and the same framing.
24 mm
So, this is my husband. At a 24mm focal length his face looks like a caricature of himself. The nose and glasses are pronounced. This is the image that prevented me from getting a model to agree to this shoot!
50mm
At 50mm the face is looking more normal. The proportions are right although there still seems to be some distortion of the face. I use a 50mm for portraiture in the studio when photographing babies and children. The being anything longer and I can’t get them in view as there’s no room to move far enough back. I also use in on photo walks to get close enough for detail and the amount of light that enters is great too.
60mm
Gosh, a smile. Even my husband is in more of a focal length comfort zone.
100mm
At 100mm the features appear less pronounced and more attractive. I will use a 100mm lens for portraiture if I have the room.
I should say here, I just sold my 85mm lens that is meant to be the ideal focal length for portraiture but I just couldn’t get on with it. Focusing was extremely difficult mainly because of the weight of the lens.
105mm
Here at 105mm this looks true to life. Actually I’d say my husband looks slightly more attractive here. I know one thing for sure, he won’t pose for me again!
When we compare the two images at either end of the scale the differences are very dramatic:
This demonstrates that the longer the focal length the more flattering the features are of the face. I would agree with this however, there are some limitations to using longer focal lengths for portraiture. Getting up to 100mm and beyond you would have to stand further and further away from your subject and in some circumstances, i.e. a studio setting this isn’t posible.
Sam Bennett 