Kirk Marshall Photography

When taking a portrait, or headshot, our natural inclination is to fill the frame with the individual’s face, neck and shoulders. If the lens we’re using has a short focal length (a wide angle lens) we’re going to have to get close to the subject in order to fill the frame. If we take the portrait with a normal lens we’ll need to be a bit farther away and with a telephoto lens, even farther. So how does that effect the image?

In my last post I shared the album cover from Don McLean’s American Pie. In that image Mr. McLean’s thumb is as big as his head. The effect is the result of using a short focal length which accentuates, or enlarges, items close to the camera and diminishes, or shrinks, object farther away. 

How will that effect a portrait? Since the individual’s nose is closer to the lens, it’s going to appear enlarged with respect to the rest of the face. In a portrait taken with a slight wide angle lens, say 24mm (on a 35mm base), the effect might not be readily apparent, however as the focal length shrinks it becomes more and more so. Most people find portraits taken with a wide angle lens unflattering. 

By contrast portraits shot with a normal or slight telephoto lens provide a more flattering rendering of the subjects face and are generally preferred. In fact lenses in the normal (50mm) to slight telephoto (85mm) range are frequently referred to as portrait lenses. 

(Canon 5DMII, EF100mm, 1/60s, f/8, ISO 200)