A Portrait Photography Guide for Beginners

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In this article I won’t focus on analyzing techniques. Instead, it answers the common questions newbies have, with the simplest explanations so you can picture them easily.

1. What Focal Length Should You Choose for Portraits?

Most of the advice you’ll find says to choose a lens with a focal length of 70mm or longer, because in this range the subject “seems” emphasized, the background blur is smooth and the image is not distorted. This advice is spot on; you can see a few examples below shot at 70mm or longer.

70mm focal length, with its ability to emphasize the subject completely

135mm focal length, a “killer” focal length for portraits

However, that doesn’t mean only this focal range produces beautiful portraits. The normal range (35mm-70mm) and the wide range (24mm-35mm) still give portraits a certain impact, especially in street and everyday portraits.

35mm focal length gives a close, friendly feel

24mm is especially versatile in everyday portraits because it can take in part of the surrounding scene

So what about the ultrawide range (below 24mm)? Most people say it isn’t suitable. However, this focal length is especially effective if you shoot for advertising and media.

If this were an ad for a type of contact lens, would you be impressed?

At 12mm, a full-body portrait offers a fresh perspective

My advice: “Choose a portrait lens based on the portrait style you pursue, because the traditional path is not always the one that brings success. Of course, it also depends on your budget”

2. Does Focal Length or a Wide Aperture Give Nicer Background Blur?

If you’re asking this, you already have some knowledge of DOF. First, let’s compare “Same focal length, different aperture”.

In the image above, the 2 photos were shot at a focal length of 6mm, the left one at f/1.8 and the right one at f/2.8. Ignoring the difference in color and looking only at how smooth the background blur is, you can easily see that the wider aperture gives a smoother blur than the smaller aperture. To be more certain of this, see the image below

The second case is “Same aperture, different focal length”. Let’s look at the image below with 2 focal lengths that almost every newbie starts with: 50mm and 85mm.

Surely we can see the difference. The longer focal length gives a smoother blur. However, when you have to trade focal lengths in the field, you pay with how freely you can position yourself relative to the model. For example, if you only have a 35mm lens and want a close-up of the face, you have to get closer and right up to the model, while at 70mm you stand a bit farther away and at 135mm you can comfortably shoot from very far away. Conversely, 35mm has the advantage for full-body shots, since you don’t stand too far from the model, while with the other 2 focal lengths you keep stepping back until the model’s whole body fits completely in the frame.

If your budget can’t stretch further, for example you can only afford an 85mm and not a 135mm, you have to accept getting right up close to the subject to get the smoothness of a 135mm.

My advice: “If you can afford a lens with a long focal length and a wide aperture, there’s nothing more to say. If you can only prioritize 1 of the 2 because of money, choose the long focal length (85mm, 70mm, 105mm,..) and accept a small aperture (usually 3.5-4.5) if you’re skilled at smoothing the background in post-processing software. If you’re not confident in your post-processing skills, you should accept a shorter focal range with a wider aperture (such as 28mm, 35mm, 50mm prime lenses at f1.8, f2.0, f2.8,…)”

3. Getting Stuck With Composition and Framing.

This difficulty is a common one for “everyone”, so don’t feel bad. You often hear that the rule of thirds is the right composition. However, we don’t need to be that rigid; breaking the rules can bring many more amazing results. Still, we have to accept learning the basics first.

To shoot with the correct rule of thirds: when you look through the viewfinder, picture the image above again, and this blurry image will appear in your mind.

You can see that the manufacturer has cleverly placed the focus points close to the red intersection points. That means when you shoot a portrait, put whatever you want to emphasize on a red point. Usually you just need to focus on the eyes or the model’s whole body, then move the frame so the model’s eyes or whole body line up with a red point, and you have shot with the correct rule of thirds

A portrait with the eyes falling on the 1.3 rule

I hope the detailed guide above helps you as you create beautiful portraits.