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What portrait lens to buy part 2
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Mar 8, 2020 07:54:08   #
domcomm Loc: Denver, CO
 
A 100mm lens (or equivalent) is considered the best focal length for portraits by professionals, and it give a good separation between the sharpmess of the subject and the blur of the background. A 50mm won't do that well.

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Mar 8, 2020 08:27:23   #
Notorious T.O.D. Loc: Harrisburg, North Carolina
 
I can recommend Laura Shoe videos as excellent for Lightroom and Photoshop. Probably a good way to invest $100 or less. There are many free videos on YouTube also, but not as organized an approach perhaps.

out4life2016 wrote:
Thank you
As always your advice is spot on. I have only used the basic software provided with windows 10 as a editing tool. I really need to learn Lightroom and photoshop but every time I start to work with it the photo ends up destroyed basically and me really confused about what proper steps and where to basically start with them. I’ve actually had both subscriptions for some time however recently let them go cause I just wasn’t using them. Maybe I should invest the money into knowledge or detiectional guides to using light room and photoshop. The 85mm was a birthday present to me from a friend so to be honest I havnt shot with it much and I’ve only had it a couple of days. I’m just getting tired of shooting the same landscapes and I tend to work well with people so I thought why not
Thank you br As always your advice is spot on. I h... (show quote)

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Mar 8, 2020 09:19:39   #
Ny5y Loc: Mississippi
 
Canon 135 L F2 can't be beat!

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Mar 8, 2020 09:34:19   #
agillot
 
i ll bet , the 24/105 , or another high quality zoom lens would do it , more control of the framing .

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Mar 8, 2020 09:51:10   #
billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont
 
out4life2016 wrote:
There were so many responses and most I guess needed more detail so I wanted to add. As mentioned before I am shooting a Canon 6DMARKII and I own a 50mm and a 85mm F1.8 USM models. They are great lens and have attached a photo of one recent shoot in my living room with lighting and umbrella set.
My reason for asking is because I am getting more and more request for photos done outdoors using different things for backdrops. By request of clients some want the background blurred and some want some focus on the background. I am still learning to work with clients as before my interest was more into landscape and animal photos.
1st photo is shot with 50mm indoors with lighting.
2nd photo is shot outdoors with Godox speed light mounted to stand and remote on camera hotshoe.
3rd was very first actual person I worked with and was shot with 24-105mm f4 IS lens with Godox speed light mounted directly to the camera.
In closing I need a portrait lens that I can use for outdoor models. All these were shot hand help but do own and use a ball head made by Hedysn with a supporting weight of up to 17 pounds since I bought it to use my 150-600mm Tamron G2 lens for shooting Eagles with.
There were so many responses and most I guess need... (show quote)


My response is the same, buy the Canon 70-200 2.8, with this lens you will have all the bases covered.

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Mar 8, 2020 10:13:37   #
bobmcculloch Loc: NYC, NY
 
out4life2016 wrote:
There were so many responses and most I guess needed more detail so I wanted to add. As mentioned before I am shooting a Canon 6DMARKII and I own a 50mm and a 85mm F1.8 USM models. They are great lens and have attached a photo of one recent shoot in my living room with lighting and umbrella set.
My reason for asking is because I am getting more and more request for photos done outdoors using different things for backdrops. By request of clients some want the background blurred and some want some focus on the background. I am still learning to work with clients as before my interest was more into landscape and animal photos.
1st photo is shot with 50mm indoors with lighting.
2nd photo is shot outdoors with Godox speed light mounted to stand and remote on camera hotshoe.
3rd was very first actual person I worked with and was shot with 24-105mm f4 IS lens with Godox speed light mounted directly to the camera.
In closing I need a portrait lens that I can use for outdoor models. All these were shot hand help but do own and use a ball head made by Hedysn with a supporting weight of up to 17 pounds since I bought it to use my 150-600mm Tamron G2 lens for shooting Eagles with.
There were so many responses and most I guess need... (show quote)


The hogs are getting tough on you today, #1 more distance between the model and background should help, #2 misplaced focus, are you using a single focus point on the camera? #3 first fix the dress, looks like an accident , just my quick comments, you have the right idea, need more practice, not more equipment.

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Mar 8, 2020 10:19:19   #
out4life2016 Loc: Bellingham, Washington
 
bobmcculloch wrote:
The hogs are getting tough on you today, #1 more distance between the model and background should help, #2 misplaced focus, are you using a single focus point on the camera? #3 first fix the dress, looks like an accident , just my quick comments, you have the right idea, need more practice, not more equipment.

Thank you. Unfortantly the third was someone who thought they were a model and really had no clue. She picked the poses and the dress. Unfortantly for me it was the first person I had ever shot in a photo shoot if that’s what you wanted to call it. The first photo was my last photo shoot but was the first time working with actual lights and umbrellas. I think I am going to take the advice of others and order some books an watch some videos on the subject rather invest in another lens. That and work more in learning light room and photoshop.

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Mar 8, 2020 10:23:59   #
fetzler Loc: North West PA
 
CHG_CANON wrote:
It's your money, so it's your decision. But, none of these three examples show opportunities that different equipment would tend to improve. Rather, in all three, different shooting technique and / or processing holds the most obvious potential for improvement. The pose and lighting looks good, how and where to focus seems the area to consider next.

The EXIF has been stripped from all the examples, but for the first two, we see a softness / missed focus that is not representative of the capabilities of the lenses identified. The third seems to have much too small an aperture and / or a misplaced focus, along with much too much oversharpening of the image. Both the 50 and 85 f/1.8s are sharp enough and very capable of creating excellent results, with more practice.

This site will gladly and excitedly spend your money. But, your money would be much better spent by not buying another lens, and instead, spending more time on your shooting and processing technique, as well as considering better software, if appropriate.
It's your money, so it's your decision. But, none ... (show quote)


I could not agree more.

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Mar 8, 2020 10:27:10   #
bobmcculloch Loc: NYC, NY
 
out4life2016 wrote:
Thank you. Unfortantly the third was someone who thought they were a model and really had no clue. She picked the poses and the dress. Unfortantly for me it was the first person I had ever shot in a photo shoot if that’s what you wanted to call it. The first photo was my last photo shoot but was the first time working with actual lights and umbrellas. I think I am going to take the advice of others and order some books an watch some videos on the subject rather invest in another lens. That and work more in learning light room and photoshop.
Thank you. Unfortantly the third was someone who t... (show quote)


You have the right idea, I almost always use center point focus, you may end up cropping but you get to pick the focus point mot the camera which may not always do what you want, center point because after a while it becomes second nature to frame and you can shoot faster. That would have helped in #2 , I think. Bob.

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Mar 8, 2020 10:27:36   #
E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada
 
So Out4Life2016...If you post in the Profesdional and Advanced Portraiture Section, l have a few rough edits to show you. Or you can give me permission to post them here. Just to give you some tips on composition. It's up to you!👍

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Mar 8, 2020 10:31:52   #
uhaas2009
 
The distance between your lens-subject and background is one of the factors. Aperture the sec factor. Use a DOF calculator. I’m working on the same problem like you. I have one old lens the tokina 300mm 2.8 what I use when I want 100% background blurred but I’m miles (lol ......miles is a bit to much....) away from my subject.

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Mar 8, 2020 10:34:49   #
out4life2016 Loc: Bellingham, Washington
 
E.L.. Shapiro wrote:
So Out4Life2016...If you post in the Profesdional and Advanced Portraiture Section, l have a few rough edits to show you. Or you can give me permission to post them here. Just to give you some tips on composition. It's up to you!👍


Thank you and please do feel free to post here. Unfortantly I drive a semi truck for a living so most everything is coming from my phone at the moment untill I get back home to my computer

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Mar 8, 2020 11:08:10   #
charlienow Loc: Hershey, PA
 
I would suggest trying the most recent photoshop elements for the 30 day free trial. It is easier to use than photoshop and Lightroom and to start can do a lot of the same things they can do. At some point in the future if you need more advanced features you can go to either or both of these programs.

One of the features I am using recently is to “open in camera raw”. I use it on older jpeg files before I started using raw. It works on both scanned digital and camera digital files. Until I bought my first DSLR a few years back ALL my digital cameras were bridge cameras that only shot in jpeg.

The advice you have received so far on this post is excellent and your decision to “study portraiture” as opposed to buying more equipment is sound judgement.

If you don’t already use back button focus you might want to try it for a few weeks. I love the way you can focus on the subject and let the bbf button go and your subject stays in focus, even when your subject is off center, when you depress the shutter release button.

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Mar 8, 2020 11:21:56   #
frankraney Loc: Clovis, Ca.
 
out4life2016 wrote:
There were so many responses and most I guess needed more detail so I wanted to add. As mentioned before I am shooting a Canon 6DMARKII and I own a 50mm and a 85mm F1.8 USM models. They are great lens and have attached a photo of one recent shoot in my living room with lighting and umbrella set.
My reason for asking is because I am getting more and more request for photos done outdoors using different things for backdrops. By request of clients some want the background blurred and some want some focus on the background. I am still learning to work with clients as before my interest was more into landscape and animal photos.
1st photo is shot with 50mm indoors with lighting.
2nd photo is shot outdoors with Godox speed light mounted to stand and remote on camera hotshoe.
3rd was very first actual person I worked with and was shot with 24-105mm f4 IS lens with Godox speed light mounted directly to the camera.
In closing I need a portrait lens that I can use for outdoor models. All these were shot hand help but do own and use a ball head made by Hedysn with a supporting weight of up to 17 pounds since I bought it to use my 150-600mm Tamron G2 lens for shooting Eagles with.
There were so many responses and most I guess need... (show quote)


It doesn't make a difference if indoors or outdoors. It's the lens, which you already have, as we all have said, and works the same anywhere. Blur and focus are controlled by f-stop and distances.

If you just have to buy a lens ( you have gas) get a zoom. I have the 70-250 macro and it is a very good lens.

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Mar 8, 2020 11:40:12   #
E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada
 
out4life2016 wrote:
Thank you and please do feel free to post here. Unfortantly I drive a semi truck for a living so most everything is coming from my phone at the moment untill I get back home to my computer


I'm on the road as well. These edits were done on my tablet.







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