All language subtitles for 15. Lens choices for studio work

In this chapter we're going to look at
lens choices

for portraiture

and beauty subjects.

And the reason is that there are
particular lenses that will show off

your subject to the best.

If, for example, you were to use a
sixteen millimeter super wide angle

lens on a portrait subject, it would
not look very good at all.

So what I want to do is I want to run
through a series of comparison test

shots for you, going from super wide
angle up to telephoto lenses, keeping

our subject, our model's head, the same
size in the picture for each shot,

and allowing you to see the differences
of each of these focal lengths and what

effect they have.

So you understand why we use particular
focal length choices for this type of

photography.

Now I can tell you straight off the bat

that in the 35 millimeter format, we'd
be looking at an 85 millimeter,

or a 100 millimeter, up to about 135
millimeter focal length as the ideal

standard for this type of photography.

If we're working on medium format, we'd
be looking somewhere around about 100

millimeter, up to 150.

Now the shot that I've got on screen
already

is shot on an 85 millimeter focal
length lens.

And you can see the rendition of our
subject

is similar to how we would expect to
see it with the human eye.

And that's basically what we're trying
to achieve is something that's

flattering for our subject, something
that looks believable.

But as we divert from that focal length
to other more extremes, either wide

angle or telephoto,

the appearance of the features of our
subject

change quite dramatically.

Now this doesn't change if the camera
and the lens and you and the subject

distance remains the same, because
nothing really changes.

Then it's only when you change the
camera position,

closer or further away, which is what
you have to do if you change lens, if

you want to keep the head the same size
in the picture.

Now I was thinking of using Stephanie.

And as you've seen Stephanie
photographs so many times over and

over, and we haven't actually yet got
to the chapters where we're going to be

shooting real people with real
examples.

What I thought I'd do for this test,
instead of stiffani let's, bring in

Ben, our video editor, and we'll use
him as the Guinea pig, so that we can

see on a real human the facial feature
is changing with these different focal

legs.

Now, just to let you know, I'm using
the beauty box from the top right

position to keep a standard lighting
setup.

And I've got the thirty by 120 soft box
just coming for an edge light.

So the lighting setup will remain
consistent,

and everything will remain consistent
for each shot.

So we've got a fair comparison.

So Stephanie, unfortunately,

you're out for.

Now.

Let's go and get a real human.

And Ben, can we get you over, please?

So we're going to get Ben, our video
editor guy, into a shot here.

I'm just going to give you that tape,
and then I'm going to get you to

put a mark for yourself.

Let me just get your position.

Come forwards, please.

Mike, ok, stop there.

Let me just get this lined up on your
eyes.

So I've got to get the focus points to
match each time.

Go backwards once.

Tiny bit.

That's it.

Ok?

me.

They're focused.

Ok.

Put a mark there for me, please.

Ben,

so that you stay there, and if you can
avoid moving.

Now

for the entire test,

so ben's just marking out

his

feet positions.

I'm going to check the lighting on Ben,
on where he is, make sure that

everything is going to work.

For him.

So I'm going to just take this up

and a little bit closer

up there.

So I'm going to do a test shot on Ben,
first of all,

with the 85 millimeter lens,

just to make sure that he is exactly on
the mark.

So these

two focus markers line up with the
outside edges of his eyes.

And I'm just going to take a shot

and check the lighting on him.

Ok?

So I've got the position

of how I want Ben in the middle of the
shot.

I think it's best to shoot them in the
middle of the picture each time.

And I'm using two of my focus markers
from inside the camera so that I can

get the eyes in the same position every
time.

Just looking at this shot, it's a
little bit flat.

We want to liven him up a little bit.

So I'm just going to put a reflector

in underneath Ben to brighten the shot
up a little bit, and then we'll be

ready to start

on his eyes again.

I should, like

this, should lift him up a little bit
in terms of exposure and liveliness.

There we go.

So the reflector

has filled in a lot of the shadows to

give us a sort of brighter fresher look.

So we can see here's the light coming
from this direction, down onto ben's

face.

And then there's slightly shadow on
this side.

And then you can see that edge light
that I've just put on the side of his

face.

I'm going to turn that edgelight up
just slightly, just to add a little bit more

punch on that side.

So we're going to take that up,

six tenths of an f stop on that side.

I just want to make sure we get some

three dimensionality

so we can really appreciate the
difference on these focal links.

So that light there will get a bit
brighter now.

There you go.

So just a little bit brighter on that
side.

And I think that's actually

a little bit more would help.

Let's go

tiny bit more.

This is with the 85 millimeter lens,
which is the good baseline.

This is the sort of lens that you would
be using for

portraiture and beauty shots.

Right there we get.

Ok, so that's a good baseline standard.

I'm going to delete

all of the previous shots,

and we're going to just keep

the

last one.

And that's our baseline standard with
the 85 millimeter.

So we are going to start off with the
sixteen millimeter

super wide angle lens,

and then we're going to work back in
focal lengths.

Probably focal length is probably
16243550

mill, 85 mill, and then 10035

all the way up to about 200 mill.

And then we'll have this exact
comparison.

So just popping

a sixteen to 35 millimeter lens on,

which is super wide angle, up to wide
angle,

I don't really need to try for this,
because I'm going to line

everything up with those two markers in
the lens.

Now I have to go in really close now to
get his head

to fill the frame

at the same

ratio.

So I'm going to,

this is absolutely ridiculous what I'm
doing now, because you would never

really do this.

But if we want his head

to be the same size,

I may even be casting a shadow on it.

There.

You can see the extreme

of how much distortion we get with the
sixteen mill compared to an 85.

And you can see the huge amount of
distortion

from a sixteen millimeter lens compared
to an 85 millimeter lens.

So you can see exactly why you would
not want to use a sixteen millimeter lens

for portraiture.

Now, in saying that, I've sometimes
used a sixteen millimeter lens for full

length fashion, where I want a little
bit of distortion, and i'll want to

stretch the body out a little bit, or
you've got a more wide angle shot.

But for a close up portrait, you can
see the huge distortion, how it exaggerates

features that are closer.

So the nose becomes larger.

The angle of the head would even affect
the shot.

But I think you can clearly see the
difference, how one looks like him and

the other doesn't look like him at all.

Anyway, let's continue on.

I'm going to take focal length up to 24
millimeter now.

So we're going to get those eyes

that focus point.

Now it becomes a little bit more
recognizable

on this one,

but still

a considerable amount of distortion.

So there you'd say, yes, that looks
like him.

I can see that is the guy.

But if you compare it to the 85
millimeter,

it's still a completely

unflattering lens

for

portraiture.

Let's move on to our next focal length
now,

to 35 millimeter.

That's the 35 mile lens.

So he will gradually become more and
more lifelike, if you like, or more how

he should look

even there.

Look at the change.

Look at that.

You can see there's a really good
change there.

Because these eyes are exactly the
right spot.

There's still a huge change.

Even with that slight adjustment there.

We're now going to go up to a fifty
millimeter focal length lens.

And a fifty millimeter focal length
will start to become more believable,

more realistic.

The fifty millimeter focal length and
35 mile format was always the standard

lens that you used to get

when you used to buy slr cameras before
the days of digital.

And fifty millimeter was the chosen
focal length as the standard lens.

Because 55 millimeter, around 55
somewhere around there, is fairly

similar to the focal length of one.

If you're looking through one of your
eyes, it's about the same magnification.

However, it's still not the most
flattering lens.

portrait work.

You need to go a little bit longer than
fifty mill, up to about 8085.

Let's get the fifty mill on him,

that focus.

Take the shot.

So here we are with the fifty mill.

You can see the change again

right now.

We had the 85 mill, but I'm going to do
the 85 mill again.

So we've got them in consecutive order.

Oh, as a matter of fact, no, I'm going
to do seventy mill.

First of all, which means I have to go
to this seventy to 200 focal length lens.

So I'm going to the seventy to 200 lens,

putting it at seventy.

Hopefully it'll allow me to focus

at this distance.

You get it on these eyes.

Good.

Now we're going to go back to the other
lens,

because I want to do 85 millimeter on
an 85 millimeter lens.

But i'll also do it

on the seventy to 200 as well.

Just see if there's any

difference between lenses.

Because you can get different effects
from different lenses just because the

characteristics of the way the lenses
are shaped,

right

on the pupils.

Ok, that's 85 millimeter on that lens.

Now we're going to go

to 85 millimeter on this lens.

So that's around about there.

Now we're going to go to 100 millimeter.

I have to move further back as the
focal length increases.

Now we're going to go to 135

millimeter.

And what will happen here?

As if we get longer and longer with the
focal length, he'll just start to look

more chunky.

And that's the problem with longer
focal lengths, they just tend to make

people look heavier

still.

So that's 135, and I'm going to go up
to 200 millimeter.

And you know what?

Let's go up even more.

I'm going to get an extender,

and

we'll go up to 400 millimeter.

Ok.

So I'm now going to put the two times
converter on

to convert this

seventy to 200, which is at 200 at a
moment.

I'm going to convert it

from 200

in 2400

millimeter, just so we've got an extreme

version.

So this is now a 400 millimeter lens,

and I'm going to have to go way back.

As a matter of fact, I don't think I'm
going to need Emma to come and wheel my

a little bit closer to me.

Please.

I'm too close still.

And we keep going.

Let's try here,

very hard to handhold this.

Could you get me the tripod, please?

Emma

it's just there.

It's too shaky for me to even hold this.

So I'm just going to balance it on this
tripod, just to make sure

I get it held fairly.

Steady

that's on these eyes.

Ok?

So we have

focal lengths changing there.

Ok?

So we're going from

the sixteen millimeter, super wide
angle with this huge amount of distortion

then you can see

millimeter.

Then 35 millimeter starts to look a
little bit more normal.

Fifty millimeter looks pretty much ok.

millimeter, they're sorry.

85 millimeter,

then 85 millimeter on the seventy to
200.

So they're fairly similar there.

Then up to 100 millimeter, not a lot of
difference, but there is a little bit

of difference.

200 millimeter,

and finally, 400.

Doesn't look to be a lot of difference
between the 20400.

But if we go with the 200,

compare it to say the 85,

you can see

a difference between the

perspective

and the sort of

chunkiness appearance of the head as we
increase that focal length.

But you can see the main differences,
obviously, as we get into these wide

angles.

So you can see there clearly

why we wouldn't choose to use a sixteen
millimeter lens for portraiture, or a

24 millimeter or even 35 millimeter.

It's only as we start to get towards
fifty millimeter.

And then upwards, there we go, 85 or
seventy millimeter on that one.

And then 85 millimeter that we start to
see

the

and the facial features as we would
expect.

So there you can clearly understand
lens choices and why we make those choices