What focal length works best for wedding group shots and close-up portraits?
Asked 10/18/2015
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I’m looking for a lens for social/wedding photography, especially group shots and close-up portraits of the bride or couple. What focal length range is generally most useful for this kind of work? Would a wide-angle lens be a good choice for groups, or is a standard zoom a better option?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
10y ago
2 Answers
3
tl;dr:
Get a 24-70 F/2.8 zoom (35mm equivalent), if you're serious about wedding photography. Use what you have until you can afford one. (After that, save money for a 70-200mm F/2.8.)
additional info:
Your question is a bit vague. To just do a group shot, basically any lens will be ok, as long as you can use your feet. However, you want to take into account whether you want to portray the group without context or whether you want to emphasize the group in the surrounding (which you might want to do for a wedding). So sometimes a 50 mm can be fine, while you will use 28-35mm most of the time, and probably even 24mm if you want to catch an impressive builing as well (to increase the percieved size difference of group and surroundings).
To get a close-up with nice aesthetics and proportions I would never go below 50mm (for anything less then head-to-hip), or 105mm for headshots. If close-ups also mean detail shots of the wedding rings, you might end up wanting a macro lens (down the road) as well.
personal addition:
I prefer fixed focal lenses. However, this doesn't work well for weddings, where flexibility is key to capture the event on all levels. If weddings are just something you do next to other things, you can get a set of nice primes that allow you to do anything, but with additional swapping lenses.
Since you didn't mention your budget, you might as well go with whatever zoom you have, - subject isolation by low aperture is less important than pressing the shutter at the right time in the right place.
Originally by user45637. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user45637
10y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
For wedding and social photography, a standard zoom is the most practical all-around choice. The most commonly recommended range is about 24–70mm (full-frame equivalent), because it covers wide group shots and more natural-looking portraits in one lens.
For groups, wider focal lengths such as 24–35mm are often useful, especially indoors where you can’t step back much. Just avoid going too wide for close people at the edges, since wide-angle lenses can distort faces and body proportions.
For portraits or close-ups of the bride/couple, longer focal lengths are usually more flattering. Around 70–105mm gives better subject compression and more pleasing proportions than wide-angle.
So:
- Groups/tables/tight spaces: roughly 24–35mm
- General coverage: 24–70mm or 28–105mm
- Close-up portraits: around 70–105mm
If you want one lens to start with, a 24–70mm-style zoom is the safest recommendation. A wide-angle lens can help for large groups or showing the venue, but it’s usually not the best single lens for all wedding work.
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