What's The Best Lens For Family Portraits?

When choosing which lens to utilise for family portraits, there are several issues to consider. Here'southward some advice from my own experience as a family photographer – I hope information technology helps you cull the lens that will piece of work all-time for your needs.

Editor's note: The author uses a full-frame photographic camera – retrieve to take crop factor into business relationship if yous use APS-C or Micro Iv-thirds cameras.

1: The space you'll exist working in for your family portraits

If you're shooting outdoors, you won't accept such restrictions on focal length so you can let loose with longer focal lengths. If y'all're shooting indoors in a family's home, yous'll need to be able to cope with a smaller infinite. I have a long lens with me for outdoors (135mm L), but indoors I'll by and large use an 85mm or 50mm lens.

Family portrait taken with 135mm lens

2. How many people will be in the family portrait

If it's just one kid indoors, an 85mm lens would exist a bully starting point. If you generally have the whole family in a shot, you lot'll want a 50mm lens for indoors or y'all'll be permanently backed against the wall trying to fit everyone in with an 85mm lens!

Family portrait taken with 50mm lens


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three. The age of the children

Newborns: My favorite lens for newborns is a Canon EF 100m f/2.8L, as the close-ups from it are stunning and information technology too works actually well as a portrait lens – but you practise need enough infinite to become back in order to utilize information technology as a portrait lens. Information technology's slow to focus though, so I wouldn't use it on toddlers or children who move more erratically. Newborns are generally pretty still, and they can't motility and so your focal plane is pre-determined!

Newborn portrait taken with 100mm macro lens

A budget option for newborn close-ups is using an extension tube with a 50mm lens. The photographs won't have the same wow gene, simply the results are still pretty skilful – and it might bide you time while you salvage upwards for a macro lens.

Toddlers: Picayune children will oftentimes be running circles around you lot, and so you need a lens that can keep upwardly. I generally use an 85mm for individual portraits of toddlers, and a 50mm lens if they're super fast on their feet and I desire more flexibility from the lens.

Portrait of toddler made with 50mm lens

Pre-school or school historic period: I choose a lens based more on their characters at this indicate. If they're adequately low-key and relaxed, I'll use the 85mm lens. If they're full of beans and engaging in lots of unpredictable activities, I'll opt for the 50mm.

Portrait of child made with 85mm lens

4. Your style

If yous tend to shoot quite close in, you'll detect an 85mm lens more comfortable. If you find y'all shoot more environmental portraits, a wider lens like a 35mm will be a good selection for y'all.

Baby portrait made with 35mm lens

If you're not sure yet how you might piece of work, give yourself the flexibility to find out with a more full general lens like a 50mm. Y'all could always start with a more bones lens, and invest in better quality lenses when you're more than in tune with the kind of family unit portraits you'll be taking.

Baby portrait made with 50mm lens

5. How many lenses you tin choose between

Budget: If you can only stretch to one lens, you'll need it to work hard for you. I prefer using prime number lenses (with fixed focal lengths) merely if you're starting out with one lens, you lot might find a zoom lens is more than practical. When I started out, I opted for a 50mm lens – it'south known equally the slap-up l for proficient reason, it'south a very useful and adaptable lens!

You can always gradually add to your arsenal of lenses – adding in one that's more specific to portraits like an 85mm lens, a longer lens for outdoors, or a wide angle lens if you lot detect you're shooting more environmental portraits.

Logistics: I apply 2 photographic camera bodies in every family portrait session, with different lenses on each camera so I can switch between different situations quickly and easily. If I have an 85mm on 1 camera body, I'll put a wider lens similar a 50mm or 35mm on the second photographic camera body so I have lots of diverseness in the shots I can take.

Equally, if I'm outdoors and take a 135mm lens on my principal camera body, I'll put a 'safety' lens like a 50mm on the other camera torso – just in instance I suddenly need to fit more in, or the children run much closer to me.

Exceptions to the rules

Ok, none of this is cast in stone. Sometimes I'll have a particular lens on for a certain situation, so a lovely moment presents itself and I'll photograph information technology with a unlike lens that I might have chosen deliberately.

Exist flexible, and don't worry besides much if things change – that'due south life! Hither'due south a photograph of this exuberant footling girl taken on a 100mm macro lens – which is slow to focus as mentioned before, only I managed to accept this in a quiet moment.

Baby portrait made with 100mm macro lens

These are the lenses I utilize.

  • Canon 35mm f/one.four 50
  • Canon 100 macro f/2.8 L
  • Canon 85mm f/ane.viii
  • Canon 135mm f/two.0 L
  • Canon 50mm f/1.2 Fifty
  • Canon 16-35mm f/2.eight L

Choosing the correct lens for you is quite a personal decision, just information technology's one that's well worth spending some time thinking about. If you lot're not sure which will be right for yous, consider hiring some dissimilar lenses from your local photographic camera store – trying them out in real life situations really brings abode the deviation betwixt each lens.

The lens yous choose will have quite an bear upon on the kind of photographs you can take on a family unit portrait session, so information technology's an of import decision – let me know how you get on!

Further reading

  • How to Photograph Siblings at Domicile
  • How to Become Swell Newborn Babe Photos at Dwelling
  • My Lightroom Workflow (A Professional Portrait Lensman's Perspective)