What Lens is ideal

clicktheshutter

clicktheshutter

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Name
Chris
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Hi guys

I have been doing a fair few portrait shots and small groups of friends and
family lately and for most of these i have been using a wide angle lens Olympus 11-22mm plus my speedlite setup.

Now my question is what lens would be best for this sort of work? i find the wide angle really good to use as im very limited in space and cant move far enough back in my studio aka my living room lol. but i have notice that some of the shot are a little distorted. Should i be using my 14-54mm of something else?

What do you guys use in your setups?

Thanks for you help
 
Any shots where faces are distorted is purely* down to the fact that you're too close to the subject so buying another lens won't help you there.

(*Barrel distortion could feasibly affect faces, but it's unlikely that this is the cause and besides, it is easily corrected in Lightroom et al.)
 
I always either use an old 35-70 (nice soft edges) or 85mm, so that's 56-112 or 136mm equivalent on my crop sensor. Personally 95% of the time I'm using the 85mm, but then it's mostly individuals & I do like a nice close crop ;)

Paul
 
NorthernNikon said:
Any shots where faces are distorted is purely* down to the fact that you're too close to the subject so buying another lens won't help you there.

(*Barrel distortion could feasibly affect faces, but it's unlikely that this is the cause and besides, it is easily corrected in Lightroom et al.)
Click to expand...

Never thought about correcting it in Lightroom is there any tutorials you know of?
 
clicktheshutter said:
Never thought about correcting it in Lightroom is there any tutorials you know of?
Click to expand...

You can only really correct barrel distortion which you can do with one click by checking "Enable Profile Corrections" under Lens Corrections.

The other distortion is a result of being too close to the subject which you may be able to correct in Photoshop depending on the amount, but I wouldn't want to try.
 
clicktheshutter said:
Never thought about correcting it in Lightroom is there any tutorials you know of?
Click to expand...

When shooting with wide angles, there are several forms of 'distortion' you might be getting.

There may be barrel distortion where straight lines towards the edges of the frame are curved outwards. This is a lens defect, easily corrected in post processing but probably only noticeable when shooting buildings etc.

Then there is exagerated perspective (technically not distortion) where subjects nearer the camera appear relatively larger. It's not a fault and can only be reduced by moving back.

The third kind of distortion, and this may be what you're getting, is when heads and faces towards the edges and corners appear stretched and pulled out of shape. This is the rectilinear correction of the lens at work as it compensates for subjects towards the edges that are naturally further from the camera than those in the centre. Very hard to do much about that, other than making sure with groups shots than you keep subjects away from the edges.
 
HoppyUK said:
When shooting with wide angles, there are several forms of 'distortion' you might be getting.

There may be barrel distortion where straight lines towards the edges of the frame are curved outwards. This is a lens defect, easily corrected in post processing but probably only noticeable when shooting buildings etc.

Then there is exagerated perspective (technically not distortion) where subjects nearer the camera appear relatively larger. It's not a fault and can only be reduced by moving back.

The third kind of distortion, and this may be what you're getting, is when heads and faces towards the edges and corners appear stretched and pulled out of shape. This is the rectilinear correction of the lens at work as it compensates for subjects towards the edges that are naturally further from the camera than those in the centre. Very hard to do much about that, other than making sure with groups shots than you keep subjects away from the edges.
Click to expand...

Thanks for this, would you mind taking a look
 
HoppyUK said:
When shooting with wide angles, there are several forms of 'distortion' you might be getting.

There may be barrel distortion where straight lines towards the edges of the frame are curved outwards. This is a lens defect, easily corrected in post processing but probably only noticeable when shooting buildings etc.

Then there is exagerated perspective (technically not distortion) where subjects nearer the camera appear relatively larger. It's not a fault and can only be reduced by moving back.

The third kind of distortion, and this may be what you're getting, is when heads and faces towards the edges and corners appear stretched and pulled out of shape. This is the rectilinear correction of the lens at work as it compensates for subjects towards the edges that are naturally further from the camera than those in the centre. Very hard to do much about that, other than making sure with groups shots than you keep subjects away from the edges.
Click to expand...

Thanks for this, would you mind taking a look at my photos on my portfolio to see if any the distortion I maybe getting. My portfolio is here on my site. WWW.Christopherhurrellphotography.com

Thanks again Chris
 
You're too close to your subjects for the shots you're taking, especially those where the kids are sitting down with their legs stretched out towards you.
 
NorthernNikon said:
You can only really correct barrel distortion which you can do with one click by checking "Enable Profile Corrections" under Lens Corrections.

The other distortion is a result of being too close to the subject which you may be able to correct in Photoshop depending on the amount, but I wouldn't want to try.
Click to expand...

As a rule how far should you stand back from you subject?
 
clicktheshutter said:
As a rule how far should you stand back from you subject?
Click to expand...

Yes, that's exagerated perspective because you're too close. Just move back until it looks right, and use a longer lens.

You will also get far less background visible too. Though it looks like you've photoshopped it out, that's very much harder to do with anything but pure white.
 
NorthernNikon said:
That depends entirely on the end results you want but for portraits I try to stand at least 4-5m from my subjects.
Click to expand...

Lol my living room ain't that long.
 
HoppyUK said:
Yes, that's exagerated perspective because you're too close. Just move back until it looks right, and use a longer lens.

You will also get far less background visible too. Though it looks like you've photoshopped it out, that's very much harder to do with anything but pure white.
Click to expand...

Thankfully my flash set up took out much of the background. With minimal PhotoShoping. But I hear what you are saying.

I think I may have got better results using my 14-54mm lens instead. Will try that next time and see what results I get, with my limited space.
 
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