when taking a photo of a person - how far should you stand away from therm - I realize that this may depend on the lens, but as a rule of thumb how far away should you be from your subject!?Www@QuestionHome@Com
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Position:Home>Visual Arts> Digital photography - distance camera to subject?Question: Digital photography - distance camera to subject!? when taking a photo of a person - how far should you stand away from therm - I realize that this may depend on the lens, but as a rule of thumb how far away should you be from your subject!?Www@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Rule of thumb!. Longer is better to a degree!. The further away from your subject the thinner they will look!. But the trade off is that you start to lose detail!. So 100 feet back is not going to do you any good, even if you have a 300mm lens!. 30 feet is probably too far as well, but if you have a 135mm lens you may have to back up that far for a full body shot!. As far as lenses go, 85-135mm (the mm range, not a specific lens) tends to be considered a portrait lens range!. But as an artist you are not nailed to that range!. Many people make great portraits with their kit lens!. 17 or 18 to 55mm (depending on the make)!. If you have an inexpensive lens and want to do portraits you are limited by the build quality but its not un-do-able!. You will not want to be zoomed all the way out or all the way in!. The middle is usually just right!. The same thing goes for the f/stop!. Your camera will have an aperture priority mode (even many point and shoots have this feature)!. Choose your focal length, dial your aperture all the way open (small number) and then close it up a bit from there!. Many zooms will have a different aperture at the tele end as they will the wide end!. Canon's 18-55 f/3!.5-5!.6 lens means at 18mm the widest aperture is 3!.5, but at 55mm the widest it can be is only 5!.6!. A big difference!. Again you want to close it up a bit from wide open, but the sweet spot us usually right in the middle of the range!. Usually f/8 is the beginning of the sweet spot (for this Canon lens) and f/16 is about the end!. None of these apertures will give you a ton of background blur when focussing at a distance!. For that, you will need to look up the definition of Depth Of Field (DOF)!. also when doing portraits, dont try to fill the frame to the edge with the subject!. You will want room to crop the image to the print size!. One image you may want to print at 3!.5 x 5, the next a 4x6, the next a 8x10!. None of these crop the same, and if you fill the frame with the subject and want to crop to an 8x10 print you wont have enough room!.Www@QuestionHome@Com How long is a piece of string!? It depends purely on the sort of pic you want to take!. Head and shoulders!? around 3 to 4 feet with the lens racked out to give you the pic!. Full length again move back until you can get the whole person in the frame!. Don't take with a wide angle that will cause distortion!. As a general rule use a focal length of at least 75mm or even longer, when taking head and shoulders and also if taking a pic of a person sitting with their hands closer to you than their body!. You will be surprised to see how much hands can become distorted and appear huge if the focal length of the lens is in the 50mm merk!.Www@QuestionHome@Com For the best prospective on the face and body, so everything is proportioned correctly, you should always us a 100mm lens, or as close to that focal length as possible!. Adjust your distance with that lens according to how much of the person's body you want to show in your photo!. Ex: If you want just the face, move in!. The whole body, move back!. If you're using a zoom lens, set it to 100mm!. ALWAYS focus on the eyes!. The eyes are the windows to the soul, remember!? The sharpest f-stop is the one second to the maximum of your lens (ex: If your lens is a f4, set it to f5!.6 for the portrait)!.Www@QuestionHome@Com You don't want to be "in your face," i!.e!. too close for comfort!. So back out until your subject feels at ease and you are not in their personal space!. This way, you can get a whole body shot, or use the zoom to frame the face and torso for a portrait, or zoom even tighter to just frame the face!. By keeping your distance, your subject feels more comfortable, and you allow light to reach them!.Www@QuestionHome@Com There is no simple answer to that question!. It depends on how you want to frame the subject/person in the photo!.!.!. It depends on the focal length of the lens as well as the size of the camera's sensor!.!.!. It's way to complex to have a 'rule of thumb' that would be of any value!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com 100mm is pretty much the standard portrait lens outhouse is right!.Www@QuestionHome@Com Start at ten feet, go in and out from there until you like the perspective!.Www@QuestionHome@Com I believe it should be around 3 feet!.Www@QuestionHome@Com between 4 and 6 milesWww@QuestionHome@Com |