The 85mm prime lens is widely considered the best for portrait photography. A few focal lengths are ideally suitable for portrait photography –135mm and 105 being two focal lengths that are also very popular. You can also shoot portrait photography with focal lengths that are shorter than 85mm and longer than 135mm. It all depends on the style of work that you do. However, we’ll limit ourselves to the 85mm prime today.
One of the primary reasons the 85mm is so popular is that it captures facial features best. If you’ve ever tried portrait photography with a 50mm or wider focal length lens, you will know that it always renders the facial features very weirdly. The ears get stretchy, and everything appears so abnormal. The reason is wide-angle lenses suffer from barrel distortion, and that affects anything that’s at the periphery of the frame.
With an 85mm lens, this is never an issue as the lens has minimal distortion and captures everything in the perfect proportion. Speaking of proportions, one more thing that I feel contributes to the 85mm being so popular among portrait photographers is that the 85mm offers the best working distance between the camera and the subject.
Longer lenses like the 135mm and the 105mm are also good. And I have seen photographers use the 200mm focal length for shooting portraits. But the further you leave your subject, the more detached you get. As a portrait photographer, it’s pertinent that you make a human connection with your subject/model.
Another reason the 85mm is so adored by portrait photographers is the quality of bokeh that’s possible with this lens. Most 85mm lenses come with rounded aperture blades, ensuring that the bokeh produced is rounded and smooth. Not all lenses have rounded aperture blades, though. But mostly all 85mm lenses have this feature which makes them ideal for portrait photography.
The 85mm is ideal for tight compositions. If you prefer to shoot with more space around your subject, you’re better off shooting with a wider focal lens. Something like the 50mm. Make sure you don’t shoot from a close distance; otherwise, the effects of barrel distortion will creep in. personally. However, I feel a tighter composition brings out the subject’s personality. It tends to cut through the clutter of space and elements in the scene that are not adding anything to the composition and focuses on the subject instead.
