I am new to photography.
I want my male subjects to appear as handsome as possible, so AT LEAST not uglier than they are in real life, and if possible, make them look even better than IRL. I know that Photoshop is important too, but this thread is strictly regarding taking the picture itself.
I saw a video on YouTube with a guy advising to slightly poke your head out to accentuate the jaw line. Seems like a good trick, makes a noticeable difference.
Also, something VERY important I learned, is that it's important to have a high focal length:
http://gizmodo.com/5857279/this-is-how-lenses-beautify-or-uglify-your-pretty-face
It seems that 300mm would be even better than 135mm for males (even if, as far as I know, 135mm is more "realistic"), because a wider face is considered more masculine than a narrow face. (Yeah I know, the picture I posted features a female)
I heard that image sensor format is also important, but is it really important for taking pictures of a face? If so, why? And is it more important or less important than focal length?
What else would help to make my subjects appear more handsome?
Do you have suggestions for specific cameras/lenses under 1000$ with a focal length of 300?
Every tip and trick would be helpful!
Thanks!
>>2803330
get a 70mm-200mm; its fine
300mm wont make a difference since youre not taking straight on front head shots and will create a lot of distance between you and the subject
and lol 135mm is not a realistic focal length; ideal yeah
>>2803330
300mm may be "too flat" for a head shot, but the larger issue with using lenses that long is that you have to be so far away from the subject that you struggle with finding a room to work in, and you also lose a lot of your ability to connect with your model because you're so far away.
General practice puts you around 15 feet from your subject for an optimum rendering of their face. At that distance, for full body shots, you'll be at about 85mm on a full frame camera (55mm on APS-C) and for headshots, you'll be around 135mm (90mm on APS-C)
Some people find that they prefer the bit of intimacy and "natural distortion" that comes with being a bit closer. Some people do the same work with a 50 and an 85. Some people say fuck it and go for a 35mm. It's really down to your taste, the look you want, and the face in question. My face, for instance, looks fairly nice when shot from relatively close. My wife's, however, looks most pleasing when shot zoomed in from across the room.
More important than lens, however, will be your light (direction and quality) your wardrobe/styling, light makeup, and processing abilities. Primarily light though. Each face will respond differently to different types of light, so you have to learn to match your light to the shape of the face, and to the look you're going for.
>>2803330
plase dont fall for the telephoto compresion jew. people look flat and dumb. use perspective at your favor.
>>2803352
>what distance does the subject has to be
it really depends, i think from chest and up for 300mm 10yards
>straight on front head shots
basically your OP pic, i assume youre not going to take similar shots and more like this >>2803347 where even though youre taking in front, the head is tilt, theres body language, some emotion going on through the body
>>2803365
adding on, whens theres movements or tilt the subject is doing the difference is hardly distinguishable between focal lengths
>>2803352
>At what distance does the subject has to be when using 300mm?
For full body? Like 60 feet away or more. For headshots, like 35 feet away, ish. It's tough to tell since most people don't try it, but that's the ballpark.
I wouldn't get too hung up on the focal length OP. The most important points are posing and lighting and always will be.
There are some resources about for good poses and lighting set ups, I dont have them to hand but someone else might
>>2803347
Isn't this a blue board?
>>2803418
Artistic nudity that isn't straight up dicks and assholes usually does just fine, so long as it isn't ridiculous. But yes, it's technically a blue board.
>>2803330
>referencing jizzmodo
>>2803338
just get a canun fd 135 2.8 and suny a7
>>2803330
19mm looks best
>>2803444
Because it's a woman. Males look like shit with a narrow face
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>>2803467
That guy a cozy face
>>2803467
comfy
>>2803467
He looks fine with the wide angle, just a bit Jewish.
just buy a 50mm already. 70-200 for headshots.
>>2803641
How important is image sensor format, and does it changes the appropriate focal length when shooting head portraits?
>>2803682
OP get fucked. I bet you dont even have a model.
>>2803682
Crop sensors make everybody look like a downy, regardless of focal length.
>>2803698
Alright, thanks!
>>2803682
It is not important, so long as you account for the crop factor. You'll still want to be standing 12-15 feet from your model, but the 1.5x crop on the lenses will mean that you'll need focal lengths that are 1.5x shorter to match the framing.
>>2803698
>It's not more or less zoom unless you have a higher pixel count in the cropped area than you would have had on a full frame sensor cropped to the same size, in which case, yes, it does function as a zoom.
Fixed that for you.
>>2803698
zooming is literally the same as cropping in toward the centre
it is exactly more or less zoomed depending on the crop
>>2803444
That's because you probably jerked it to Android 18 as a kid.
that picture is literally retarded and a piss poor example of real world of distortion
85mm, 1.2/1.4
>>2804096
What? Why? What is "real world distortion"?
>>2804828
The barrel and pincushion distortion he gets from his sigma super zooms.
>>2804851
In that case:
Lens distortion =/= Perspective distortion
>>2803370
I shoot with a 300 2.8 quite often. Your estimates sound about right. Sometimes a little less if the person is quite short.
>>2803330
Making people look more masculine or feminine depends a lot more on the model's positioning than the lens. If you just stand back a bit, even a 50mm won't distort someone too much.
There's a really good video (it's long though) on classical portrait posing/lighting that goes a lot into this I found useful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxPkxS_ezVg
