Portrait

jackdaw

Hey
I got the f1.8 Mk II canon lens 50mm .. im very happy with it , its great for portraits on the open end, I love the blurred background,
I always thought since the focus is so sharp on the open end, this was best for
portraits, but Scott Kelby reckons f11 is best for portraits ??

I guess thats for if you want the background in focus aswell, but surely that takes away from the quality ??

bovril

It all really depends on what you want from your picture. Choosing an open aperture or say f11 won't change the quality of the photo if it's not good in the first place. If you don't want to show the person in their setting or the background is distracting then choose an open aperture. If you want to show the person and the background you'll have to choose a smaller aperture (bigger f number).

Light will also have an affect on the aperture you choose too just to make things more complicated.

Go with what you like in a photo.

PonderStibbons

I find with my Nikon version that closing the aperture down a couple of stops (somewhere from f2.8 to f4) really improves the sharpness and still gives plenty of blur. The only reason I can see to go the whole way down to f11 is if you were using flashes, and wanted to darken the background a lot.

Here's a link to a sharpness comparison at various apertures: http://www.tawbaware.com/canon_lens_test2.htm (the images in the two further over columns)

I can't really see any difference from f4 onwards.

jackdaw

jackdaw wrote: »

Hey
I got the f1.8 Mk II canon lens 50mm .. im very happy with it , its great for portraits on the open end, I love the blurred background,
I always thought since the focus is so sharp on the open end, this was best for
portraits, but Scott Kelby reckons f11 is best for portraits ??

I guess thats for if you want the background in focus aswell, but surely that takes away from the quality ??

sorry what I meant to say was, Surely that takes the ATTENTION away from the subject, not quality...

AnCatDubh

I think Mr. Kelby may also be referring to the "sweet spot" which all lens have - it's different for all lens too (aparently!). For a prime you are talking somewhere generally mid way through the aperture (trial and error to assess where), and with a zoom its somewhere mid way through the focal range and mid way through the aperture.

From what i gather this basically is where a lens will perform at its optical best and to have people in portraits looking their best you'd have to have your gear at it's best. But then if you are like me you'll fall for the 'sultry' mood of the greater bokeh and happily ignore that lens sweet spot (probably why i'll never be a pro!)

Hey - it obviously does have its place. Trial and error is probably best to experiment with though. It's another of those guides which with experience you will be free to break to achieve your desired result.

Cheers.

jackdaw

Cheers ...

bokeh ? i know this means the blurred background , but why bokeh ?

Roen

Scott Kelby may have been talking about studio portraits where you'll often have the aperture set in or around f 11.