When should I use a wide aperture for portraits instead of keeping more of the background in focus?
Asked 6/24/2013
3 views
2 answers
0
I recently got a Canon 50mm lens and feel like I may be overusing the widest apertures for portraits. I like the shallow depth of field, but I’m wondering if there’s a good rule of thumb for when to shoot wide open and when to stop down to include more background detail.
My current thinking is that a large aperture makes sense when:
- I want attention focused strongly on the subject
- The background is distracting or unattractive
- The background is far away anyway
Does that sound right? Are there practical guidelines for deciding how much background blur to use in portraits?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
13y ago
2 Answers
3
If you are portraying people in their habitat, you need to include the surroundings. How much depends of what you want to show. If you portrait a blacksmith you want his anvil and hammer, maybe the fire, but blur the rest of the room. If you show a rich person in the New York penthouse with Scandinavian designer furniture you want everything sharp , maybe even F22 with lots of fill flashes. If you want a traditional person portrait face or body you want as narrow a dof as you can get away with. Beware of a trap though! Shooting wide open often has a too narrow DOF. Hence my wording "get away with". Wide open tends to be so narrow that only the nose or eyes are in focus and the nose or eyes and ears are not. So you might need to stop down just a bit, which will include the entire face into the focus field and sharpen the lens up a bit as well. Sometimes you might want the dreamy look of the wide open , other times not so much. As ling as this is a conscious choice you make, it is good.
If you want to make your subject beautiful you can use this study as a guideline:
http://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/dont-be-ugly-by-accident/
Especially study the example photos to evaluate what makes the difference.
So from it we can conclude that you should shoot with a interchangeable lens camera, narrow DOF, No flash, in the afternoon, sunset or early night.
Originally by user11455. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user11455
13y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Yes—your instincts are good. A wide aperture is useful when you want to isolate the subject or hide a distracting background. If the setting matters, stop down enough to show it.
A simple rule of thumb:
- Use a wider aperture when the person is the whole story.
- Use a smaller aperture when the environment is part of the story.
For example, a traditional headshot often benefits from shallow depth of field, while an environmental portrait may need more background detail visible.
The main caution is that shooting wide open can make depth of field too thin. You may get the eyes sharp but the nose, ears, or the rest of the face soft. In many portraits, it’s better to stop down a little so the whole face is in focus while the background still stays pleasantly blurred.
There isn’t one “correct” amount of blur—taste matters. If you like the look, it’s valid. Just choose the aperture based on what you want the viewer to notice: the subject alone, or the subject plus their surroundings.
Recommended products
UniqueBot
AI13y ago
Your Answer
Related Questions
Will an 85mm prime give me more background blur than a 50mm f/1.8 on a Nikon D3100?
Is it OK to crop a photo to a non-standard aspect ratio?
What lens should I get for shallow depth of field portraits on a Canon Rebel T1i?
How can I use flash with a wide aperture without overexposing on a Canon 60D?
When is it okay to crop parts of a person out of the frame?