Unlocking Portrait Magic 🔓: Focal Lengths Demystified

Uncover the transformative power of focal lengths! Discover how different focal lengths can dramatically alter the look and feel of your portraits, from wide-angle to telephoto shots. Get a real example of what 35mm-200mm looks like.

[deardaughter]

Excellent video. Explains why I look best with the lens caps on.

[hungrydavo]

Excellent video. Explains this issue of distortion so well. So important for finding a lens you can live with for portraiture. It's hard explaining why a wide angle lens isnt very flattering...

[Pafiya]

It's so cool to see the diffrence between 16-50 being so huge and 70-200 almost not noticible (In this scenario)

[coslmaoo]

That's why I always, ALWAYS put my focal length at 1mm for the ultimate megamind effect. My forehead game is strong.

[Scramify]

This explains why you look better in person rather than in a picture off a phone.

[edwardcarlton]

I'm a sculptor, and this actually makes a big deal to making a realistic portrait. Messed up proportions in a picture will translate to the sculpture, warping the results. Good and accurate photos are incredibly important.

[karmatraining]

35mm is closest to how our eyes see the world, but 85mm is brilliant for portraits

[SKullRoseProductions]

You ever hear that the camera adds 10 pounds, this is a good video demonstrating why that may potentially be the case, camera focal lengths matter.

[DirtyDishes]

Comparing the first and last side by side at the end would have been nice.

[mr.cmr.c]

I think the most flattering was the 85-100mm range

[whereisthesauce]

WOW. That made me feel less insecure about my face… not because of her she’s beautiful but because of the changes in one’s face through different lenses could legit think we look one way when in reality a camera won’t always fully capture what we look like

[EpicBenjo]

If you’re new to photography, the first lens you should get is a 50mm.

[Somebodythatoverthinks]

200mm : what Ithink I look like
16mm : what I actually look like

[kai.]

85mm is the king of portraits! Its pretty close to our perception of human faces, i use it for all my standalone portraits

[neeevirus]

This is an excellent display of "proximity foreshortening" for digital illustrators/animators

[EpicTonyBoi]

50-70mm seems to be the most natural looking shots... really useful info

[sebastiangudino]

This is why a 50 is a great beginner lens. It is rarely "perfect" but it gives very decent portraits, and very decent landscapes

[fidodido]

You also need to explain to people that while you changed the focal length you also changed your distance from the subject to create the same frame. It's a crucial info. Otherwise many won't understand and gonna think that focal length just changes the optical distortion.

[PatchedBandit]

Distance is equally important. Less distortion the further you are from the camera.

[Frisenette]

What matters is distance, not focal length. You can have the exact same compression of geometry if you move away with a 24 mm or a 14 mm.
The face will just won’t fill the frame, creating something different than portraiture. Which of course is valid too.