How To Use a 50mm Lens to Shoot Portrait?
 

Hi Folks,

I by far got only one lens, a CZ 50mm. Using it to shoot portraits, is
it possible to get good results? I like to hear some advice on
anything around this case, about composition, subject distance, enlarge
and so on.

And, is there any free gallery about this kind works on-line? Maybe I
can learn by example.

For printed gallery, I heard the big man Cartier Bresson, which one of
his book is suit for my purpose?

Thanks in advance.

-
narke

Subject: How To Use a 50mm Lens to Shoot Portrait?
From: "narke"
Date: Wed, Jan 19, 2005 1:47 AM
Message-id: .com

Hi Folks,

I by far got only one lens, a CZ 50mm. Using it to shoot portraits, is
it possible to get good results?

No, its possible to get great or terrible or good results or anything inbetween
- it depends on the skill of the photographer... most 50mm lenses are
spectacularly sharp (yours may be one of the sharpest of all if its the
50/1.4mm CZ). For more "conventional" headshots for commercial clients (anybody
who pays you money for a headshot/etc.) you might want to consider also
buying/supplementing with a 100mm or longer lens to be able to stand back for
slightly more compressed facial features and a relatively tight crop, but for
general subject in environment work the 50mm you have should do you well.

The first question you need to ask yourself/answer is what kind of "portraits"
do you want to do? Will these be tight headshots, subject in environment or a
range from one to the other? Who are your subjects? What do they expect/want
from the pictures? Are the pictures merely to satisfy your own artistic
wants/needs or are you "styling"/marketing (damn how I hate that word(s) them
to a particular kind of audience?

"Portraits" is too vague a term without some specifics/qualifiers - tell us
exactly what you want to do and hope to accomplish so we can help you better.

I like to hear some advice on
anything around this case, about composition, subject distance, enlarge
and so on.


Enlarge? What do you mean by "enlarge"?

And, is there any free gallery about this kind works on-line? Maybe I
can learn by example.


You might want to type in search terms like "photo" and "critique" into search
engines to come up with some photo critiqueing websites that allow you to do
searches based on a particular criteria("s") such as "portrait" and/or "50mm"
(lens.

For printed gallery, I heard the big man Cartier Bresson, which one of
his book is suit for my purpose?


Virtually any of them, since he primarily used the 50mm lens for all his people
shots (photojournalistic and portraits). Also check into Ralph Gibson who did a
lot of work with the 50mm lens, though he now uses the 90mm lens focal length
on his Leica more. Ralph does a kind of minimalist surreal graphic formalism -
just find his work by searching on the web or in books (at the library or at
Amazon.com and you'll know what I mean alot better than just trying to explain
it to you).

Thanks in advance.

-
narke

Your welcome in retrospect ;-)

Most of my people/portrait work nowadays... gasp... is done with a 50mm Series
E Nikon lens.

Some random thoughts...

Don't get fixated on the fixed 50mm lens (even if its the only lens you own
;-)). Don't think 50mm, think composition/design and how you want to place the
subject within the frame. Think in the abstract. Think shapes, colors, etc. The
best thing about a 50mm lens is that it forces you to forget about 50mm lenses
(or any other focal length) and since it has such a natural imprint (you don't
have the advantage/disadvantage of an overpowering "look" to the 50mm focal
length you'd get from the space expanding perspective you'd get from getting up
close to your subject with an ultra wide angle of a 15mm nor the spacial
compression you'd get from using a 500mm telephoto lens from faraway such as
the stacking two or more that are far away from each other seemingly on top of
each other (ie. buildings/streets scene from a great distance), your main point
of concern becomes the image/image questions such as content and composition
(subject's expression, posing of subject, amount of space around subject, how
that space is broken up into shapes/colors/tones and/or idea elements that
contrast or echo your subject to show relationships/make points about the
subject, etc.).

Head shots can work with a 50mm lens but straight onto the subject they become
more "character portraits" when your (too) close which can work for some
subjects and not others. You might want to try some profiles (when/where
appropriate) or even buy a 2x extender which allows you to be twice the
distance away and get the same image size/crop/still get a relatively close
crop on the person's face (the classic "headshot" cropping/perspective) but
without the "nose enlarged/ears receding" phenomenon you get when you try to
use you 50mm at headshot (read very near ie 1 1/2 to 2 feet away from your
subject's face) framing distances. Its a matter of both subject, shooting style
and appropriateness(/whether you can pull it off) for using the 50mm for close
headshots.

I can reccommend Carrie Branovan (in addition to my own more recent work which
is not on my website which has more surreal/PJ work from various focal
lengths). She's a portrait/fashion photographer who primarily (totally?) works
in 35mm with the Nikon 50mm f/1.2 lens wide open (for selective focus effects).
You can find her work in a back issue of the Spring 199 Photographer's Forum
magazine beginning on pg. 43 - perhaps her work is on the web too.

I believe alot of Elliott Erwitt's work (personal snapshots/art shots of
people) has been done with a 50mm dual range Summicron on a Leica (amongst
other focal lengths/camera systems). Check out his work too. Particularly check
out both the book and the series "Masters of Contemporary Photgraphy". This is
out of print, having been done in the 1970's but is still very relevant in
getting into the mind/reasons why of the photographer where the real picture
taking takes place, behind the lens in the mind not in front of the lens)

Read, photograph, critique and/or get critique, read and photograph some more.
Mastership comes from doing, studying and just plain old being aware. In
photography its the vision that counts more so than the lens or the focal
length.

Happy shooting and reading...

This post is...

© 2005 Lewis Lang

All Rights (and wrongs) Reserved

Check out my photos at "LEWISVISION":

http://members.aol.com/Lewisvisn/home.htm

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dont get to close to avoid distortion ( especially the nose )


p
a href="http://members.aol.com/dcolucci/" Antique & Classic Camera
Site/a/p

dont get to close to avoid distortion ( especially the nose )


p
a href="http://members.aol.com/dcolucci/" Antique & Classic Camera
Site/a/p

"Using it to shoot portraits, is it possible to get good results? I
like to hear some advice on anything around this case, about
composition, subject distance, enlarge
and so on."

No, it is not possible to get good results. The lens is too short. You
need a lens in the range 80mm-135mm focal length for portraits.

"Using it to shoot portraits, is it possible to get good results? I
like to hear some advice on anything around this case, about
composition, subject distance, enlarge
and so on."

No, it is not possible to get good results. The lens is too short. You
need a lens in the range 80mm-135mm focal length for portraits.

No, it is not possible to get good results. The lens is too short


its very possible to get good results - see a pic from a 55mm lens


http://members.aol.com/dcolucci/m6.jpg



p
a href="http://members.aol.com/dcolucci/" Antique & Classic Camera
Site/a/p

narke wrote:

Hi Folks,

I by far got only one lens, a CZ 50mm. Using it to shoot portraits, is
it possible to get good results? I like to hear some advice on
anything around this case, about composition, subject distance, enlarge
and so on.

50mm is a bit wide for closeup portraits. Distorts features. But there is a
way around it:

Say you want to make a head and shoulders shot, compose it to fill the frame,
then increase your distance by 2/3 more to twice as far away. Crop the result.
The perspective will be correct, there will be no distortion. DOF will not be
as shallow as you might like.

If you're making a portrait of a small group, 3-5 people, it should work quite
well with the frame filled for the composition.


--
-- r.p.e.35mm user resource: http://www.aliasimages.com/rpe35mmur.htm
-- r.p.d.slr-systems: http://www.aliasimages.com/rpdslrsysur.htm
-- [SI] gallery & rulz: http://www.pbase.com/shootin
-- e-meil: there's no such thing as a FreeLunch.

DColucci wrote:

No, it is not possible to get good results. The lens is too short



its very possible to get good results - see a pic from a 55mm lens


http://members.aol.com/dcolucci/m6.jpg


Excellent example. Did you crop that from a larger frame?

--
-- r.p.e.35mm user resource: http://www.aliasimages.com/rpe35mmur.htm
-- r.p.d.slr-systems: http://www.aliasimages.com/rpdslrsysur.htm
-- [SI] gallery & rulz: http://www.pbase.com/shootin
-- e-meil: there's no such thing as a FreeLunch.

Alan Browne wrote:

50mm is a bit wide for closeup portraits.
snipped

The perspective will be correct, there will be no
distortion. DOF will not be as shallow as you might like.

Snipped here too


Unbelievable...
The first day back on the job and here is Alan Browne stating that
"perspective will be correct" in the discussion of a defined focal
length lens after going on and on and on about perspective having
nothing to do with focal length in relation to a portrait...

As I Shake my head in wonderment.

According to the theory argued by Alan a few weeks ago, the focal length
of a lens has nothing to do with perspective. Now he's saying by using a
50mm lens and moving the camera, you can alter the perspective.

Any chance of consistency, Alan? If you're going to rant at me for
saying you get a better perspective with an 80 or 100 mm lens than you
do with a 50mm one, how about not arguing I'm wrong and then saying the
same thing yourself a few weeks later? Maybe you read some of the text
books I pointed to on the subject and changed your mind without telling
anyone?

Doug