Portraits at different focal lengths compared?

August 7, 2011 5:44 PM

Where can I see comparisons of portraits shot with different focal lengths? Ideally the same shot, of a person, with varying lens lengths (fisheye, 18mm, 50mm, 200mm, etc.)?

I don't have the lenses to do this myself, but I would be very interested to see what the perspective effects of various lenses would be. Thanks!

posted by wnissen to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (10 answers total)

12, 35, 100, 200.
posted by nathancaswell at 5:46 PM on August 7, 2011 [4 favorites]

This is the sort of thing that is always featured in instructional photography books.

Check your local library!
posted by Sys Rq at 5:54 PM on August 7, 2011

This was on AskMeFi at some point.
posted by ddaavviidd at 6:11 PM on August 7, 2011 [1 favorite]

david: That tool doesn't illustrate the effects of subject distance on how the portrait actually looks, though, which is what Walter's after.

This does, for two focal lengths, anyway: 28mm and 85mm. *shudder*

I'll try to find more.
posted by tapesonthefloor at 6:17 PM on August 7, 2011

25mm, 50mm, 150mm, 300mm.
posted by tapesonthefloor at 6:21 PM on August 7, 2011

Best answer: This shows several portraits of the same woman from 10 or 11 focal lengths.
posted by sanka at 6:23 PM on August 7, 2011 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Ooh, a good one: 24mm, 35mm, 50mm, 70mm, 100mm, 135mm, 165mm.
posted by tapesonthefloor at 6:24 PM on August 7, 2011 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: Sanka and tapesonthefloor are the winners! That is exactly what I was looking for. For some reason Google and Google image search for portrait focal length comparison weren't doing it. Thanks, everyone.
posted by wnissen at 6:32 PM on August 7, 2011

Oups, got that one backward...
posted by ddaavviidd at 6:49 PM on August 7, 2011

For fun, this was the search I used, and the "get lucky" result is the wiki page describing the phenomenon.
posted by tapesonthefloor at 7:51 PM on August 7, 2011