Doug Kerr
Well-known member
I had written about this a while ago, but I thought it might be apt to repeat it.
It is part of the "common wisdom" of photography that when doing portraits we must be careful not to "use too small a focal length" lest the resulting "perspective distortion" makes for an unattractive portrait.
But we need to remember that it is not the focal length of the lens that affects the "perspective". Rather it is the distance from the camera to the subject.
How focal length gets into the matter is this: if for some reason we should want to place the camera relatively close to the subject, then to get the proper framing we will be led to use a lens with a relatively small focal length.
Said the other way to, if we for some reason choose a relatively small focal length, then to get the proper framing we will need to have the camera fairly close to the subject, and it is this that leads to the "perspective" that may be unattractive.
Note that there is not any "distortion" really involved here. The image obtained with the camera fairly close to the subject is essentially exactly what a human eye, at that vantage point, would see. It's just that if we happen to view a person's face from "close up", our wondrous perceptual system "understands" the perspective involved, and does not take the view to be "distorted". But if we take a shot with the camera at such a position, and then a viewer sees it on a print or screen, the perceptual system is not "thinking in terms of" the view being from close to the subject.
Best regards,
Doug
It is part of the "common wisdom" of photography that when doing portraits we must be careful not to "use too small a focal length" lest the resulting "perspective distortion" makes for an unattractive portrait.
But we need to remember that it is not the focal length of the lens that affects the "perspective". Rather it is the distance from the camera to the subject.
How focal length gets into the matter is this: if for some reason we should want to place the camera relatively close to the subject, then to get the proper framing we will be led to use a lens with a relatively small focal length.
Said the other way to, if we for some reason choose a relatively small focal length, then to get the proper framing we will need to have the camera fairly close to the subject, and it is this that leads to the "perspective" that may be unattractive.
Note that there is not any "distortion" really involved here. The image obtained with the camera fairly close to the subject is essentially exactly what a human eye, at that vantage point, would see. It's just that if we happen to view a person's face from "close up", our wondrous perceptual system "understands" the perspective involved, and does not take the view to be "distorted". But if we take a shot with the camera at such a position, and then a viewer sees it on a print or screen, the perceptual system is not "thinking in terms of" the view being from close to the subject.
Best regards,
Doug