Shooting people with wide apertures is fun. Lots of fun. The images that you get are often fantastic (the good ones that is). The only problem is just that – “getting good ones”.
Wide apertures gives excellent subject isolation – which is good – this is required so as to direct the viewer to what “you” see. This is the reason that the wider the aperture a lens has, the more expensive it is.
The problem with wide apertures is Depth Of Focus (DOF). The wider the aperture, the shallower the DOF. The shallow DOF also means – focusing issues.
Some tips based on experience:
- Shoot with easy wide apertures (f4 through f5.6) to get away with most DOF and focus issues (This does not apply to landscapes, Only for people – single or small groups)
- Best apertures to shoot portraits is the best highest aperture your lens can provide – this is usually one stop to two stops from the widest ones.
- Best lenses to use for headshots are in the range of 75mm – 135mm (35mm equavalents) .
- Best lenses to use for full shots are in the range of 35mm-70mm (35mm equavalents)
- Best lenses for wonderful subject isolation are the ones that offer apertures in the range of f1.8 or wider
- Examples of holy grail lenses are the Canon 85mm f1.2 and Nikon 85mm f1.4. The 28-70mm f2.8 and 70-200mm f2.8 zooms are usually regarded highly as well (and are the most favoured by Wedding photographers).
- For single portraits – key is to focus on eyes. Use AF-Lock button if your camera has it or hold shutter button half depressed and reframe the subject.
- Shoot multiple images each time you hit the shutter button. At wide apertures, even the slighest movement will blur the image.
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