Which lenses best for portrait?

[2100]

Speaking of photography and bokeh, i've done a couple of model shoots who are introduced by my fren and when i showed him my pics, the first thing he said is 'y yr pics background all blur one? Everything should be clear mah.' When i heard this, i told him that he really knows absolutely nothing about portraiture.

But the funny thing is that that doesn't mean that he is wrong to prefer that. Pre-wedding outdoor location shots are done mostly without "bokeh", and if done correctly they are really beautiful. Quite a number of times for AD outdoor shoots i prefer to use my 12-24 to get the perspective. It won't be unflattering because perspective is due to distance from subject, not focal length (distortion is another matter). Of course all are full-length shots, and of coz some pple will not acknowledge these pix as portraiture if the definition of the word is followed strictly.

For me, as long as nice people happy can liao lar....heh.

 

[Snoweagle]

But the funny thing is that that doesn't mean that he is wrong to prefer that. Pre-wedding outdoor location shots are done mostly without "bokeh", and if done correctly they are really beautiful. Quite a number of times for AD outdoor shoots i prefer to use my 12-24 to get the perspective. It won't be unflattering because perspective is due to distance from subject, not focal length (distortion is another matter). Of course all are full-length shots, and of coz some pple will not acknowledge these pix as portraiture if the definition of the word is followed strictly.

For me, as long as nice people happy can liao lar....heh.

Cos his perception is that everything must be clear and visible, but explaining to him also no use lah.

Anyway, of cos outdoor wedding shots are usually done without bokeh cos they want to capture the areas around them. Actually the amount of background blur depends on how much u zoom in and distance from them.

 

[Witness]

actually clear or not its all in the vision...the idea of blurring the background is to add depth to the image imho...so that your image looks more 3-D....but too often do we see an image where there is 0 background due to bokeh...not tt it doesnt work...in some situations, i believe it does because it helps to isolate a subject.... but in portraiture and photography...no rules apply.... so its not that your friend doesnt understand portraiture..but just that you guys have differing viewpoints...but as a photographer...i feel that we should be more open..especially to the ideas of the layman...

 

[Snoweagle]

actually clear or not its all in the vision...the idea of blurring the background is to add depth to the image imho...so that your image looks more 3-D....but too often do we see an image where there is 0 background due to bokeh...not tt it doesnt work...in some situations, i believe it does because it helps to isolate a subject.... but in portraiture and photography...no rules apply.... so its not that your friend doesnt understand portraiture..but just that you guys have differing viewpoints...but as a photographer...i feel that we should be more open..especially to the ideas of the layman...

But his idea is every pic, regarless of what, must be sharp and nothing blur at all. The main idea of blurring in portraiture's also to bring out the subject so that background objects won't be distracting.

You'll know what i mean if you actually talked to him