Let’s ask AI!
The optimal focal length for accurately capturing a person’s facial shape and features in photography, particularly for portraits, typically ranges from about 85mm to 135mm when using a full-frame camera. Here’s a breakdown of why these focal lengths are favored:
- 85mm: This focal length is highly popular for portrait photography. It provides a flattering perspective that minimizes distortion, which is especially important for capturing faces. It allows for a comfortable working distance between the photographer and the subject, enabling easier interaction without the photographer being too intrusive.
- 100mm to 135mm: These focal lengths are also excellent for portraits because they compress and flatten the perspective slightly more than 85mm lenses. This can be beneficial for making features appear more proportional and for further reducing the appearance of any facial distortion.
- 70-200mm zoom lenses: Many portrait photographers use zoom lenses that cover a range of focal lengths, including the 85mm to 135mm range. This flexibility allows photographers to adjust their framing and composition quickly without changing their position relative to the subject.
For photographers using cameras with smaller sensors, such as APS-C sensors, the equivalent focal length to achieve similar framing and perspective would be about two-thirds of these values, so roughly 55mm to 90mm.
Overall, these focal lengths help in producing a more natural and aesthetically pleasing representation of the human face, avoiding the exaggerated features or flatness that can occur with wider or much longer focal lengths, respectively.
You also need to remember to minimize distortion you need to keep your subject in the very center of the frame. Lenses in general have less distortion at the center point than they do at the edges!
Anyways, that was a good answer from AI.