The Digital Photography Book

Avoid Wide-Angle Lenses

You’ve read how there are certain lenses (portrait lenses) that really flatter your subject, but why can’t we just use our standard wide-angle lenses to take portraits? It’s because wide-angle lenses distort facial features, and it’s much harder to get a flattering portrait. Take a look at the side-by-side above. That’s the same person, taken with the same camera, and the same settings, in the same location, literally just a few seconds apart. The only difference between them is I took the shot on the left with a wide-angle lens (24mm) and the one on the right with my 70–200mm out at 150mm. See how much more flattering ...