Nikon lenses for portrait

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LittleJohn_NC

Senior Member
What Nikon lense is best for portraits using the 3100 ? Lot to choose from that for sure ...staying under 300 $ if that possible. I have a 18-55 mm will this work for portraits ?
 
Fred Kingston_RIP

Fred Kingston_RIP

Senior Member
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​60mm AF Micro 2.8D
 
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gqtuazon

Gear Head
LittleJohn_NC said:
What Nikon lense is best for portraits using the 3100 ? Lot to choose from that for sure ...staying under 300 $ if that possible. I have a 18-55 mm will this work for portraits ?
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Try it first outdoor and see if it is good enough for your use. Head and shoulders type, you can get the Nikon 50mm f1.8G lens which meets your budget.
 
Disorderly

Disorderly

Senior Member
In general, longer focal lengths are better for portraits, as they flatten out the features. See if the 85mm F/1.8 falls within your budget. It's a very good lens for portraits.
 
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MoonManMike

Senior Member
Close up head and shoulders shots generally work best around 85-100mm. It gives you a little more distance from your subject than, say, a 35 or 50mm (a little less imposing). That being said, 50mm can work very well with correct settings and composure. Remember that wider apertures will be more focus critical, but can throw any foregoround and background out of focus, putting the attention more on the subject.

You can also quite happily use longer focal lengths than 85-100 for head and shoulders or just head/part head shots.

Note that a wide angle lens close up will have a tendency to distort the facial appearance more (taken frontal, noses look larger for example), whilst longer focal lengths tend to be more flattering.

Wider angle lenses are great for portraits of people in their surroundings, for example a chef at work in the kitchen (where the subject is further from the lens and therefore facial features are no so affected). Wider angle lenes tend to give greater depth of field (more will be in focus)
 
Nero

Nero

Senior Member
I use the 50mm AF-S f/18.G NIKKOR Lens. It's in your budget and the DOF makes it perfect for portraits.
 
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ladytonya

Senior Member
I have a similar question. I have the 18-55mm kit lens and a 55-200mm lens that came with my bundle. For just general shots like family snapshots and maybe a few portraits, should I get a 35mm lens or does setting my 18-55mm lens to 35mm get the same result? I am a newb at all this so I'm still figuring it all out!
 
Fred Kingston_RIP

Fred Kingston_RIP

Senior Member
No... they won't be the same... Let's start at the beginning... with a portrait... Look at some portraits... Notice that the face is in focus, and the backgrounds have a blurry focus... Your eye is drawn to the in-focus face... and the burry background/foreground provide a nice contrast to the rich details of the in-focus face... This is referred to as depth of field... and that creamy blurry background is referred to as bokeh... The 35mm 1.4 (1.8) lens is ideally suited to provide that contrast between in-focus and out-of-focus image (DOF)... where as the the F-stop of the 18-55, and 55-200 is not... IOW... the faster 35mm is better suited than the other lenses for portrait work as described above... IMO...
 
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Epoc

Senior Member
Tamron AF 90mm f/2.8 SP Di macro. Works great as a portrait lens, tack sharp, is under your $300 budget, you get the bonus of a true Macro lens for close up work and is a FX lens if you ever upgrade.
 
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WayneF

Senior Member
LittleJohn_NC said:
What Nikon lense is best for portraits using the 3100 ? Lot to choose from that for sure ...staying under 300 $ if that possible. I have a 18-55 mm will this work for portraits ?
Click to expand...

A little longer lens has been normal for portraits, classically 105mm for 35 mm film. Simply because this length makes us stand back maybe 6 or 8 feet for a head and shoulders view. If we stand closer, we change perspective, meaning, we can exaggerate the size of near features (noses).

105 mm FX is 70 mm DX. Both have to stand back at the same place for the same view (same perspective). A wider view than head and shoulders (waist up, or standing full length) could use a shorter lens of course (a wider view when standing back at about same place). A group shot likely needs wide angle. Whatever the view needs, just always stand back 6 or 8 feet for perspective. Don't get too close for formal portraits.
 
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