Beginner Best way to take realistic pictures of faces ?

hadira

hadira

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hi guys,

i'm looking for a camera and some tips to get accurate pictures of faces, by that i mean pictures that reflect as much as possible the real face of a person, do you have any tips ?

thxx
 
hadira said:
hi guys,

i'm looking for a camera and some tips to get accurate pictures of faces, by that i mean pictures that reflect as much as possible the real face of a person, do you have any tips ?

thxx
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That's not about the camera - that's about your interaction with your subject.
 
hadira said:
hi guys,

i'm looking for a camera and some tips to get accurate pictures of faces, by that i mean pictures that reflect as much as possible the real face of a person, do you have any tips ?

thxx
Click to expand...

I think you might need to explain more about what you mean, as pretty much any camera will take an accurate photo of a face, it can only record what is in front of it. if you are talking about the sort of photos that capture a persons personality through their face, then as Beth says above, that is about you, not the camera. If on the other hand you need to take photos that record exact details, lets say for example for medical reasons, or as before and after pictures for certain treatments, then again most cameras will do that job, it is more about how you take the photo, the lighting used and doing something that is repeatable so each photo is comparable under the same conditions.

I hope that makes sense and explains why more details about your needs is possibly required. Welcome to the forum too. :)
 
thx for your responses guys, i'm talking about the lens distortion, i want to avoid it as much as possible
 
a suitable portrait lens is the obvious choice. depending on what camera you intend to use. for canon you cant go far wrong with the 85mm f/1.8. essentially on an aps-c camera anything between 50-135mm is good, ff i would say between 50-85mm, though there is always rules to the eception you dont want to go below the 50 as you will start to get distorted distorted features.
prime lenses will generally be the better option too though nothing says you cant shoot portraits with a zoom. its really down to your budget at the end of the day, and the more you can spend on quality glass the better.
 
hadira said:
thx for your responses guys, i'm talking about the lens distortion, i want to avoid it as much as possible
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Ah, apologies - totally got the wrong end of the stick as to what you were asking.
 
hadira said:
can you recommend me a good starting camera ?
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tbh no. if your looking at a DSLR ( which i assume you are ) there really is no "bad" ones. sure there are some that arent great or lack certain features , but as much as a camera is just a tool, like any good tools it has to fit in with how you use it and feel right in your hand, and you have to know how to use it.
sure we could say canon or nikon, but you could just as easily be more than happy and feel most comfortable with a sony or pentax, or sigma or fuji etc.
you need to consider your budget first, then consider what your intend to shoot primarily, then visit a camera shop and try several models in your hands to see how the feel ( weight, size, position of dials, ease of use , build quality etc etc ), then once you have 3 or 4 in mind, go home, look them up, research them, find out what lenses are available for them that would suit your needs, look up shots taken with them. dont be swayed by kits ( camera and lens or lenses ), sure it may seem a good deal and a kit lens is fine as a starting point, but whatever your budget is try and push for the best lens you can afford even if it means dropping down a model or 2 on the camera body.
again do some research and if you can get to a shop that has the camera and lens you want ask to try it out, even if its justa few shots taken in the store, ( take your own SD card with you and they may even let you put it in a camera for a few sample shots you can take home and look at.
then go back home and hunt around online and see if you can find a good deal.
 
hadira said:
can you recommend me a good starting camera ?
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It would be useful to know:
  • Your budget - note, based on previous threads you will always get responses that assume you can up your stated budget by at least 20% (if you say £200 you'll get a lot of £250 suggestions and at least one wingnut with a £1,000 suggestion) so if it's a very strict budget be clear on this, understate it and be prepared to ignore a lot of replies ;)
  • An indication of your photographic experience/skill level
  • How much you want to take control of the camera yourself, or whether you want to be pretty much ignore the fine detail of settings and just point and shoot
 
Has anyone mentioned that the "distortion" is possibly nothing to do with the lens but rather camera to subject distance? ie. wide angle + fill the frame with a face = big nose scenario?

Personally I think that "get an 85mm" is a bit of a standard reply to portrait questions and not necessarily a fix all, maybe understanding the basics is a better starting point.

op. Just about any camera and lens can be used to take nice distortion free pictures. It may be worth thinking about what sort of portraits you want to take as this could influence the choice of gear. For example if you want the face to fill most of the picture that's when there's a danger that you could get distorted facial features unless you choose your gear carefully. So, apart from distortion free faces what do you want? A tight head shot? A head and shoulder shot? Half body? Full body? And at what distance to the subject will you and your camera be?
 
And be wary of using "pop up" flashes, unless you're going for that "just arrested" look!
 
woof woof said:
Has anyone mentioned that the "distortion" is possibly nothing to do with the lens but rather camera to subject distance? ie. wide angle + fill the frame with a face = big nose scenario?

Personally I think that "get an 85mm" is a bit of a standard reply to portrait questions and not necessarily a fix all, maybe understanding the basics is a better starting point.

op. Just about any camera and lens can be used to take nice distortion free pictures. It may be worth thinking about what sort of portraits you want to take as this could influence the choice of gear. For example if you want the face to fill most of the picture that's when there's a danger that you could get distorted facial features unless you choose your gear carefully. So, apart from distortion free faces what do you want? A tight head shot? A head and shoulder shot? Half body? Full body? And at what distance to the subject will you and your camera be?
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Whenever somebody mentions lens distortion i want to grab them by the scruff, jump up and down and shout ITS THE PERSPECTIVE NOT THE LENS.

This is the WAMT thread isn't it?
 
But it depends on your decision path..

1. Did you choose the lens and allow that to determine the distance to the subject?

or;

2. Did you choose the distance to the subject and let that determine the choice of lens?


I suspect most people fall into the trap of 1. so the root cause of any distortion is the choice of lens. By the time you understand that the physical cause is the distance-to-subject you start doing 2. subconsciously - you don't think about the distance, you just reach for the lens that gives you the distance because you know that lens works.
 
Alastair said:
But it depends on your decision path..

1. Did you choose the lens and allow that to determine the distance to the subject?

or;

2. Did you choose the distance to the subject and let that determine the choice of lens?


I suspect most people fall into the trap of 1. so the root cause of any distortion is the choice of lens. By the time you understand that the physical cause is the distance-to-subject you start doing 2. subconsciously - you don't think about the distance, you just reach for the lens that gives you the distance because you know that lens works.
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Ageeed that the lens can dictate where you stand, but it is where you stand that caused the distortion, not the lens.
 
dean messenger said:
well that will cause distortaion because of your distance to subject being to close.. you end up with bulbous nose syndrome in the images
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? Now I'm confused. I thought in the above post you said it didn't matter where you stood?
 
> some tips to get accurate pictures of faces
And then there's the lighting to consider. You might like softer lighting. Or lighting from one or more sides. You might prefer natural light or flash lighting.
 
dean messenger said:
well that will cause distortaion because of your distance to subject being to close.. you end up with bulbous nose syndrome in the images
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That's not called distortion, it can be perfectly clear and in focus, but it's not at all pleasing. What you describe is called 'perspective' which is governed by the focal length of the lens.

when using a full frame camera a short telephoto lens around 85mm, 90mm is regarded as the most flattering perspective for portrait photography for a head and shoulders shot.
 
Blank_Canvas said:
That's not called distortion, it can be perfectly clear and in focus, but it's not at all pleasing. What you describe is called 'perspective' which is governed by the focal length of the lens.

when using a full frame camera a short telephoto lens around 85mm, 90mm is regarded as the most flattering perspective for portrait photography for a head and shoulders shot.
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nitpicking a little there i think as that is what the op was referring to. ( distortion/ perspective. all equates to the same thing and thats an image of a person not as the eye normally sees it.. )
hence why in earlier post i stated the 85mm as one of the best suited portrait lenses
 
Just to throw another spanner in the works, those saying use an 85mm etc, does it not also matter if you are shooting Full Frame or Crop, i thought 85mm was the "norm" portrait lens when shooting FF, not sure what the "norm" is for crop though
 
dean messenger said:
nitpicking a little there i think as that is what the op was referring to. ( distortion/ perspective. all equates to the same thing and thats an image of a person not as the eye normally sees it.. )
hence why in earlier post i stated the 85mm as one of the best suited portrait lenses
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You don't expect people to read the whole thread do you ! Mind you, there is a distinct difference between distortion and perspective. You're not the first person to use that terminology on these threads so I thought it was worth pointing out.
 
i use 85mm of my crop. i know quite a few pro's who use ff and have upped to the 135mm lens. maybe its down to the trend for close cropped head and shoulders shots these days that seem prevalent . in theory a nifty 50 on a crop is great for portraits. and i know alot of people rave about the sigma ART lens which is 50mm. i guess it depends on if your aiming for head and shoulders portraits or want full body shots ( but then thats what legs are for to take a few steps back or forward ). but then if your in limited indoor space and its somewhere you will be working alot then only way to know whats best is to test a range of lenses between say 50 and 135.
you could of course opt for something like the canon 70-200 L series lens of course .
i think this list pretty much covers most of the suitable options
http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Canon-Lenses/Canon-Portrait-Lens.aspx
 
OldCarlos said:
I know, that's why I asked when you posted;



;)
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This.

Because even with a fisheye, if a person is centred in the frame at a decent distance, there'll be no noticeable distortion.

It's one of those 'wait for the penny to drop' moments. Even our eyes will create that distortion if we get close enough. We just tend not to think about what our eyes actually see.

The distortion is caused by distance, not focal length.
 
Just a quick note about the "distortion" / "perspective" issue...

The correct term for what you see at extreme wide angles is **axial magnification** (sometimes referred to as perspective distortion, as its the perspective that causes it).

All wide lenses will do it, as would your eyes if they had a field of view as wide!

For the OP, if you flatten the image by standing further away and using a corresponding lens to draw you back in, you can't go wrong :)
 
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Most Dslrs be it DX or FX will either come with or offer a kit lens which should cover a suitable portrait focal length.
And most compacts and Bridge cameras do the same.
 
If trying to capture good unposed likenesses quickly it can be useful to have a pop-up flash on the camera which can be turned a stop or two down from the ambient lighting exposure just to fill in some otherwise obscuring facial shadows.
 
Has the OP gone away to buy a big FF DSLR and 85mm lens?

Maybe a simple zoom compact would be better ... just step back.
 
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