Using a 35mm (or 24-70) for portraiture? Advice/tips welcome

[Ksanti]

I've had my Sigma 35mm for a couple of days and I'm still in love with a few aspects - the build, the optics etc., but I'm still getting used to the perspective. Obviously a fair few bits of this are just a matter of getting used to it - I still put the camera up to eye, expecting the 50mm field of view from my Canon system. I know that these lenses are incredibly capable, if a little less forgiving than 50mm lenses, so I'm wondering if you guys have any tips?

I know a lot of you shoot them for weddings and more still have standard zooms with wide ends in this range, so I was wondering how you guys get the most of them? My compositions lack a bit of ooomph at the moment, though that may have a lot to do with my subjects a well - I'm shooting a lot of outdoor location stuff this week, so the intimate perspective of a 35 isn't so useful.

 

[An Exception]

If you don't want to show context, or you don't want to emphasise something with perspective, or don't want the background to fit in the frame, or you have plenty of room to back up, then your probably not going to want to shoot with the 35.
Instead stick with an 85 if your not doing the above, as it will work better than a 50.

 

[Ksanti]

Hmm so is it just don't use the 35 in those situations? I was shooting behind the scenes/second shooter on a magazine shoot yesterday and found as long as I compensated for the the wider fov I managed to do pretty well, but I feel I'm a lot closer to where I want to be with the 85 (relative to images I've seen taken by others with the 85) than I am with 35.

 

[D.P.]

The relatively narrow FoV of the 35mm means you have to be much more careful of the background and distracting highlights. Longer focal lengths give a greater separation of subject and background, even at equivalent DoFs. And all 35mm tend to have harsher Bokeh even ignoring perspective difference because of the lens design (i think they need to be retro-focus and use aspherical elements) leading to more outlining, ringing, and double edges.

IMO, 35mm is better for group shots, or incorporating the scene. It is not really a portrait lens.

 

[An Exception]

For fashion, I imagine the 85 will be what you want to use most of the time.
The 35 will be useful for specific times, perhaps the model is wearing big sunflower sunglasses and you want to draw attention to them. Sling on the 35 and get in close.. perhaps at an angle and shooting down a bit, then maybe one strait on but shooting down a bit. The glasses will be very dominant, and the image will have more of a '3D' look.
Perhaps your at a stunning location, sling on the 35 to show more of the location while still keeping the subject the same size in the frame.
Perhaps you need to go full length, but still want to maintain a closer working distance so you can connect with the model better, sling on the 35 and get cozy.
Perhaps your getting creative with composition, and have leading lines pointing to your subject, sling on the 35 if you want to exaggerate the direction of the leading lines.
And so on...

Note: If your shooting at places with strait lines and want to keep them strait, don't tilt the camera up or down, and instead choose a correct camera height relative to your distance from the subject.

 

[D.P.]

^^ good advice. The wider fast primes, much like the UWA lenses, are more about adding perspective. Same tips apply equally to landscape work.

 

[GTRacer]

If you want to do some wide angle portraiture, have a look at some of Jeanloup Sieff's work with a 21/28mm. I found that a lot of his technique translates well onto 35mm FOV (which along with 28mm is my go to focal length for everything really).