The best focal length for portraits

[MacCruiskeen]

14-200!

This one was a 17mm. I use what I want and don't care about conventions.

Maybe you don't care about conventions, but in a traditional studio, photographers had to care about results. In a studio setting, lenses equal to appx 85-105mm were often used because they had a flatter field than 'normal' length lenses, and allowed the photographer to stand further away from the model. In an outdoor sporty scene where the model is only a smallish fraction of the frame, a wider lens may be perfectly fine. You'd have a very different look if that were a closeup.

 

[VI™]

Maybe you don't care about conventions,

I don't

but in a traditional studio, photographers had to care about results. In a studio setting, lenses equal to appx 85-105mm were often used because they had a flatter field than 'normal' length lenses, and allowed the photographer to stand further away from the model.

And? The best focal length for a traditional portrait in a studio may be around that focal length. Doesn't mean it's the best. The question is subjective.

In an outdoor sporty scene where the model is only a smallish fraction of the frame, a wider lens may be perfectly fine. You'd have a very different look if that were a closeup.

Sport?

17mm

Outdoor?

12mm

Close up?

And sometimes the distortion is welcome. It depends what you're shooting. Just because tradition states that most indoor studio portraiture where the subject fill the frame and there's nothing else going on is usually done with 85-105mm doesn't mean it's the only option or the best for what a person is doing. I find "traditional" portraiture boring. I can stand a person infront of a white wall or piece of paper, set up my lights the same way everyone else does, use the same power, focal length, shutter speed, ISO, and aperture settings and get the same result with a different subject every time.

Just because it's best for you doesn't mean it's best for everyone.