Wide-Angle Lens Techniques: Composing Dynamic Portraits at 28mm
For a long time, the most conventional way to shoot portraits was to use a medium telephoto lens to avoid distorting facial features and blur out distractions in the background with bokeh. While avoiding unappealing distortion to the face and body is still important for making your portrait subjects look good, how about going against convention and using a wider lens? The right techniques can make your images look more dramatic and dynamic. Here are some tips for doing so. (Reported by Haruka Yamamoto, Digital Camera Magazine; Model: Ami Naruse)
Before we start: What lens should we use?
1. Around 28mm
For a start, I recommend using a lens with a focal length of around 28mm. You want to be able to control the wide-angle perspective exaggeration so that it lends impact to your images without making your subjects look strange. That’s easier to do on a wide-angle lens that’s not too wide. 28mm also captures enough of the surroundings to give your portraits a street-style flavour, which is fun to play around with. For this article, I used the RF28mm f/2.8 STM.
2. A wide maximum aperture
Shorter focal lengths (wider angles) inherently result in a larger depth of field. You’ll have to compensate for this with a wider aperture setting (lower f-number) if you want background blur (bokeh) to make your subject stand out. I recommend a lens with a maximum aperture of at least f/2.8. It might be harder to achieve sufficient background bokeh if you are using a standard zoom lens with a narrower maximum aperture (higher f-number).
Technique #1: Place your subject’s face in the centre
EOS R8/ RF28mm f/2.8 STM/ FL: 28mm/ Manual exposure (f/2.8, 1/200 sec)/ ISO 160
Perspective exaggeration is stronger in the edges of the frame, so placing your subject’s face smack in the centre ensures minimal distortion to facial features. The rest of the space is free for you to play with! What kind of accents and secondary subjects will you add to enhance the shot? In the image above, I’ve used a colourful hammock in the foreground to enhance the perspective.
Bonus tip: Experiment with different shooting distances. Try adding something in the foreground
The closer an object to the camera, the stronger the perspective.
Technique #2: Close-ups with careful placement
EOS R8/ RF28mm f/2.8 STM/ FL: 28mm/ Manual exposure (f/2.8, 1/4000 sec)/ ISO 250
Filling the frame with your subject creates an impactful shot, too. You can take such close-ups with a wide-angle lens—just make sure that important parts of the face are not at the edges of the frame, where distortion will be more obvious.
Eyes and lips are some examples of facial features that should ideally be kept distortion-free. On the other hand, hair and clothing usually won’t look as unnatural when distorted.
Bonus tip: Use lighting angles to elevate your shot
This side profile shot of the model’s face was shot in backlight. It created rim lights that gave the photograph extra dimensionality.
Technique #3: A full shot against the scenery
EOS R8/ RF28mm f/2.8 STM/ FL: 28mm/ Manual exposure (f/2.8, 1/1250 sec)/ ISO 250
We touched on this in the two points above, but it’s worth emphasising because it’s so important to how you compose images: on a wide-angle lens, perspective distortion becomes more obvious towards the corners of the image. You can use this to make locations look more dramatic by taking a full body shot of your subject from further away so that the surrounding scenery takes up most of the frame. Your subject will look smaller, and that sense of scale creates drama—especially when they are surrounded by sprawling natural scenery.
Bonus tip: Place the model in the middle of the frame for the strongest impact
The wide-angle perspective exaggeration effect is stronger at the corners of the frame, making the scenery seem to extend further and look more dramatic compared to the model in the middle.
Technique #4: For longer legs
EOS R8/ RF28mm f/2.8 STM/ FL: 28mm/ Manual exposure (f/2.8, 1/1000 sec)/ ISO 250
This is like a variation of Techniques #1 and #3. Pose your subject (or angle your camera) so that their legs are stretched out, pointing to a corner of the frame. The wide-angle perspective exaggeration effect will “stretch” their legs, creating the illusion of longer legs. That same effect makes the face look smaller in comparison. For a longer-arms effect, pose the arms using the same technique.
I composed the shot so that the model’s feet were stretched towards the corner of the frame.
Caution: Monitor the results and adjust the composition accordingly. Overdone elongation could make your subject look disproportionate and unnatural—unless that’s the effect you want!
More tips and inspiration for unique portraits in:
How to Create a Wide-Angle Panorama Portrait
50mm Portraits, My Style: Creating A Picture of a Memory
How to Shoot Macro Portraits That Tell a Story
2 Instant Techniques to Liven Up Your Outdoor Portraits
About the Author
A monthly magazine that believes that enjoyment of photography will increase the more one learns about camera functions. It delivers news on the latest cameras and features and regularly introduces various photography techniques.
Published by Impress Corporation
Born in Tokyo, Yamamoto is a freelance photographer who shoots for a variety of mediums that include magazines, CD jackets and advertisements. She also has her own blog, where she posts shots from an ongoing photography series “Otome-graphy [Maiden-graphy]”, which seeks to remove existing stereotypes of young women as well as address Yamamoto’s own issues about aging. A collection of these shots was published in book form in 2018.
