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View Full Version : Headshot of my sister w/50... distortion?

KevC
30th of May 2005 (Mon), 20:53
Hey. I know 50mm is usually meant for full body shots, but a 50mm gives an effective focal length of about 80mm on my 1.6x crop body. Perspective is determined by distance to subject, and focal length is simply used to determine if you can "fill the frame".

This is a shot of my little sister with my 50/1.8, full frame just resized and compressed for web. It looks slightly... distorted. She has a really round head, hahaha... but should I be saving up for an 85mm to give me the 136mm length?

Playing with my zoom, I found that I really love the 105mm length... which gives me an effective 168mm. Maybe I'll just find a prime around 100mm?

Oh right, here's the photo.

http://img280.echo.cx/img280/2319/crw46539gv.jpg
drisley
30th of May 2005 (Mon), 21:17
I dont think you should get much distortion at 50mm.
I think the image looks great. Very nice and sharp, and she looks very relaxed with a nice smile.
pleutim
30th of May 2005 (Mon), 21:24
I'm not seeing distortion. Her head looks normal to me. Cute girl!
lostdoggy
30th of May 2005 (Mon), 21:30
Nice shot. There is a arced line running from above her eyebrow to eye brow???
KevC
30th of May 2005 (Mon), 21:46
Nice shot. There is a arced line running from above her eyebrow to eye brow???

Hahaha... just shows how sharp this nifty fifty really is. That's a stray hair I believe.

Here are some others from the same "shoot"

http://individual.utoronto.ca/seraphsheaven/karenweb/
DocFrankenstein
30th of May 2005 (Mon), 22:05
We can't tell the distortion because we haven't seen a lot of your sister.

But I just tested on my brother and the distance seems to be ok. When his face is in the pic, the camera is approximately a meter away from him... which is the normal conversation distance. So there wouldn't be distortion there.
KevC
31st of May 2005 (Tue), 08:58
Good point, Doc :)
D4VE
31st of May 2005 (Tue), 09:03
That hair could easily be removed with the smudge tool in Photoshop. :)
mgbeach
31st of May 2005 (Tue), 09:12
The 50 works great for portraits from headshots to full length. Unless you are looking for an excuse to buy a new lens (we've all done it one time or another!) I'd stick with what you've got. The 100 macro f/2.8 is a good length for headshots and gives you great macro capabilities, but is even sharper and some say unflattering for shots like the one you've posted.