Ideal aperture for portraits

[michael_bryant5]

<p>What is the ideal aperture for portraits when all that I want to be focused is the head?</p>

[john tonai]

<p>Need a lot more information</p>

<p>Head and shoulders? 3/4?</p>

<p>Also depends on the focal length of the lens and the film format or digital sensor size.</p>

[fullmetalphotograper]

<p>

<p ><strong><em>Don't think, feel! It is like a finger pointing away to the moon. Don't concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory. -Bruce Lee Enter The Dragon</em></strong></p>

<br>

There is no ideal f/stop. It depends on what you are shooting, the lighting, the background, your lenses, camera. Your question should be more of how do I understand the relationship of exposure shutter speed, f/stop and ISO to obtain the results I want.</p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>While I'm sure you'd like some specific advice, it's probably better to spend a few minutes playing with <strong><a href="http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html">this handy depth of field calculator</a></strong> so that you can quickly see how your distance from the subject, the focal length of the lens you're using, and the aperture all work together to impact usable DoF.<br /><br />In practical terms, using a focal length anywhere from 50 to 85mm and working in that head-and-shoulders distance, shallow DoF is easy to come by with a fast prime lens. If you're using a slower kit lens, you'll have a harder time controlling it. So, mention what lenses you have at your disposal, and we can give you some much more specific pointers.</p>

[starvy]

<p>michael, which lens are you using and what kind of portrait are you intending to shoot?</p>

[michael_bryant5]

<p>I am currently using a Sony a200k and mainly use a 55-200mm f/4-5.6 lens. The portraits mostly are from shoulders on up, but I also wish to know how to set waist up portraits too.</p>

[allen_r1]

<p>Aperture is only one way of changing the depth of field. Changing the focal length can produce the same result. With a 200mm lens at your disposal, you don't necessarily have to worry about f/stops to acheive the result you want. Just use a "portrait" length, say around 90mm, and you should be fine.</p>

[markonestudios]

Also, in the same vein as using a medium telephoto focal length, get your subject farther away from the background. Perhaps you could post some examples of what you'd like to achieve, for more specific advice. Your question is still too vague, even with the lens/body info you have provided.

[Ed_Ingold]

<p>Think results, not recipe!</p>

<p>You must have both eyes in focus, but other body parts are optional. For example, the ears can be slightly fuzzy (out of focus, that is). At the same time, you would like the background to be out of focus, whether in the studio or outside. That rule can be bent for environmental portraits (any rule can be bent).</p>

<p>The smaller the format, the greater the depth of field for the same composition. Consequently it is often hard to render the background out of focus with a small format camera. If you don't want to count threads in the backdrop, keep the subject further in front, and/or use a larger format camera.</p>

[photom]

<p>The ideal aperture for most portraits will be the one that keeps the zone of interest just in focus and areas not of interest somewhat out of focus. But this is just one particular style that you may wish to deviate from. Of course the photographer needs to decide what is of interest in the photo and whether it is a head shot, shoulder, 3/4, or more. Once you have visualized the shot, the actual aperture used will be a function of: lens FL used, distance you can or wish to operate from the subject, APS-C vs. Full frame, medium or large format, and possibly lighting or ISO limitations. I guess someone could develop some kind of matrix based on aperture, DOF and FL for a given distance but you would be better off figuring this out yourself. With digital it is easy to use trial and error for part of the learning process of what you like.</p>

[david j.lee]

<p>michael, any lens will give you the same dof at any given f stop, say f5.6 or f8.0 if you're framing for a head and shoulders portrait. i would try f5.6 to start and then experiment with wider apertures.</p>

[c._f.]

<p>I like Ralph's comments about feeling... :)<br>

Number of years ago I did a shoot where I thought pictures came out great but costumer compained because background was out of focus. So we re-shot it, he saw him self and the background to be nice and sharp and was happy. Point is that a lot depends on what you want to see in your pictures. If you're shooting digital, play with numbers and see what you like the best.<br>

Good Luck<br>

Adam</p>

[httpwww.photo.netphoto1664882297]

<p><strong>Depends on a lots of factors:</strong><br>

Lens focal length<br>

Sensor size<br>

Aperture<br>

Distance to subject</p>