I like to shoot portraits. I use a Rokinon 50mm f1.4 and a Sony 100mm f2.8 STF. I am about to buy the Sigma 24mm f1.4 Art lens. I'm not a pro. Just shoot for my own enjoyment. Just wondering if any of you would mind posting one of your favorite portraits taken with a 24mm lens? Just trying to learn.
Shooting portraits with a wide angle requires knowing how the lens distorts the image. I normally reserve a wide angle such as this for larger groups or more of an environmental portrait where the subject is full body, not headshot. etc.
Here's a good video to show how distortion occurs on a wide angle. This should help you use a 24mm more appropriately in order to avoid unwanted distortion.
Or you just embrace the qualities of the lens to make compelling images. You use the tool that best implements your preconceived idea for the result. I use 24mm lens on FF 35mm format a LOT for portraits. Some look somewhat distorted (on purpose) and some don't. Depends on how you use the lens, the light and the subject. Here are a bunch that are not group shots but all work in their own way.
Peter, we think alike. That's why I said "unwanted distortion". It's using the right lens to bring the vision to life! Know your lenses. Nice examples.
I mean, hell, I shot Thomas Dolby for the cover of Keyboard Magazine some time in the last century with a Nikon 16mm fisheye. I'm not sure he was happy with it but it was different and edgy. The bottom line is to do what makes you happy and don't worry too much about rules. And, while I may have ended up shooting all of these with a 24mm lens, that doesn't mean that's the only lens I used on each shoot. When you have the luxury, and we don't always, shoot with more than one focal length.
You're going to have a blast with that new lens. It's a good one. I was just counting that I actually have five different lenses that cover the 24mm focal length, plus two more "alt" lenses that can be adapted to other cameras, so, seven in all.
Lee Jeffries uses a 24mm f1.4mm for many of his street portraits. May not be everyone's cup of tea, but his images definitely draw the viewer in - which in part is due to the intimacy of that focal length.
Personally, the widest I go for portraits is 28mm:
Peter Figen wrote:
Or you just embrace the qualities of the lens to make compelling images. You use the tool that best implements your preconceived idea for the result. I use 24mm lens on FF 35mm format a LOT for portraits. Some look somewhat distorted (on purpose) and some don't. Depends on how you use the lens, the light and the subject. Here are a bunch that are not group shots but all work in their own way.
Excellent work Peter! You make me want to use 24mm more - for this image in particular, it really helps tell the story of the musician as it gives you more of the instrument in frame, while the wide angle distortion really emphasizes the subject's face/expression.
I'm assuming you're referring to the Howard Heitmeyer image. He was 90 years old and still actively playing, writing and transcribing music when I shot that around five years ago. I was very interested in emphasizing his wonderful hands and the juxtaposition with his face and using a wide angle forced that comparison into a place that told his story in a way that I wanted to tell it. And I also shot a couple of rolls on the RZ that day as well. Just for that look on black and white film.
