Making better portraits - Part 3 - Backgrounds and focal lengths

The relationship between subject and background can be altered by changes in position and camera.

The power you have as a photographer to alter the relationship between subject and background is amazing, but you have to be aware of what can be done to harness it.  Many people do not recognize the effect of focal length on compression and distortion parameters in lenses or how to make it work for them.  The key here is to position your camera and your subject relative to the background in the right place and to choose the best focal length and aperture to produce the desired effect between subject and background.

Focal length, subject and background position, and aperture will give you all the control you need.

The question you have to ask yourself when setting up for a portrait is, "What do I want the shot to look like?"  Below are some of those goals and how you may position everything to achieve them.

  • Out of focus background - use a long lens (80 mm or longer relative) with a low minimum aperture.  Primes will be the best for this.
  • In focus background - Normal or wide angle lens (50 mm or shorter relative) with partly or fully closed aperture.  Zooms or primes, doesn't matter.
  • Little background with lots of control over what that looks like - telephoto lens, longer is better, this will narrow the field of view and produce limited backgrounds.  You may have to be far away from your subject to achieve this.  If you want everything in focus, you will have to shoot with a very large f/number (small aperture) and may have to use Hyperfocal focusing to make it work.
  • Large amount of background - great for showing where you are in a setting.  Use a wide angle or normal lens, you may have to be a good distance away from the background to get it all in.  Too much wide angle will distort your subject.
One of the great things here is the ability to take lots of photos.  Why shoot in just one manner?  Take some time and move your equipment and subject around and try a variety of setups.  The more you play, the more you will learn, and some shots will definitely be better than others.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com



 

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