Portrait lens suggestions?

**Will Frostmill** · 9-Dec-2016, 17:44

As I recall, Karsh shot a number of his head-and-shoulders portraits (like the Humphrey Bogart one) with a 14" Commercial Ektar at f/22. I saw a print of that in person, probably no bigger than 11x14, and he'd very skillfully manipulated Bogart's position to draw attention away from the out of focus parts. In that case, the more distant shoulder is obstructed by Bogart's face, and his hands are not only in the same plane as his face, but the palms appear to be touching near the wrist, even though the fingers are fanned apart from each other. The near shoulder is printed way down near zone II, and a raking light, a hard light, is picking up the texture of his tweed jacket, though in some prints, most of the shoulder is cropped out!

For example:

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**SoulfulRecover** · 22-Dec-2016, 11:46

Thank you everyone for the suggestions!

Turns out my wife is pregnant soooooo no more lens haha

**Luis-F-S** · 22-Dec-2016, 11:58

I'd use what you have, see how they function and that should give you a better idea of what to get. L

**dpn** · 22-Dec-2016, 12:24

Originally Posted by SoulfulRecover

Thank you everyone for the suggestions!

Turns out my wife is pregnant soooooo no more lens haha

Taking wonderful pictures of my children has led to my wife encouraging my photography and getting her to agree to expensive purchases. *grin* And don't forget the maternity shots!

**Roger Thoms** · 22-Dec-2016, 18:09

Maybe you should ask the mods to change the title of your thread to Best Portrait Lens for Newborns.

Congratulations!!!

Roger

**stawastawa** · 22-Dec-2016, 18:11

I second the book "50 Portraits". neat info on how it happened.

Originally Posted by Tobias Key

That shot is F22, closer in F32 might be necessary. You can get a lot of info by googling the right photographer. There is a decent amount of stuff online about Gregory Heisler and Dan Winters, two photographers who were working in large format until quite recently, and so have a bigger internet footprint than more eminent older guys. Heisler's book, 50 portraits, contains a lot of useful information even though I actively hate a fair proportion of the images.