Looking for advice on portraits

[WelshMark]

I have an M5 and was wandering what the best lense is for it when it co.es to Portraits, i seem to have more and more people asking me to take photos for them but currently dont have a sufficent lense for the job as most me ohotos are of wildlife/scenery
Any advice would be awesome

 

[vintagesnaps]

Tell them you do wildlife and they need to hire a professional photographer, unless/until you learn how to shoot portraits. There's no instant answer, it will take time to develop the skills needed.

 

[ronlane]

I do not have a great grasp on the M5 lenses since that is a smaller sensor. For portraits is it generally considered to use the 50mm - 200mm focal range, so getting something equivalent to that at f/2.8 or faster would be good.

I would also agree that a lens will not automatically make you a portrait photographer. It will take time to learn the skills needed for portraits.

 

[tirediron]

Even more important than the lens(es) is lighting. Even out of doors you need lighting equipment. There's also posing which is a whole art in itself... portraiture is my favorite genre, but it takes time to build up your skills, and just buying a lens isn't going to be terribly beneficial until you have all of the supporting gear and skills to do the job.

 

[Original katomi]

Agree with tired iron, in addition you will need the people skills to get your subject to do what you want. Which of course you will have to know in advance what you want to achieve and how to do it. If you are
Let’s try this or I wonder if this will work, er um what do I do now.
Will soon have the subject wondering what the.......
I do a lot of different types of photography but I don’t do portrait photography I don’t have the people skills and I know it. From trying with my own family I found that there were just too many people telling me and the person I was trying to photograph what to do. It was a mess. Now I stick to subjects where, I know what I want to achieve, have a fair idea how do do it and if I don’t have the right kit an idea of a workaround.
If you want to get a taste and see the problems, how good you are and so on ask a group of friends or family to help you practice.. on the basis ok I am new to this, if the photos are good I will give a free print to those that help.
If you are good then you will collect prints for your folder, the experience and an idea of what you will need, if like me it does not work, then as I say to people, I tried it and I am no good at it, it’s not my area of experience so I leave well alone

 

[ac12]

Do you WANT to do portrature?

If so there are a LOT of things to consider.

• What type of portrait; large multi-person multi-generation family, all the way to a tight face shot of a single person.
  
  • Each type of portrature calls for different requirements.
    • Space for the subject. A 40+ person multi-generation family group shot needs a lot more horizontal space than a single person.
      
    • Space; camera to subject (a big group needs more camera to subject distance), subject to background.
    • Lens
    • Lighting
• Studio or on-location?
  • Gear can be very different.
• People skills
  • This one is HARD. If you ever watch a GOOD portrait photographer work, you soon realize how hard this skill is. Different subject require different directing techniques. To me, kids are HARD, especially when they get moody/cranky, and don't listen to instructions.
• Posing skill/eye/directing.
  • Like people skills, this is HARD to learn, for me at least.
  • Learnable, but requires a LOT of practice. And you will make a LOT of mistakes along the way as you learn.
• Lighting skill
  • How do you light the subject to best present the subject.
  • There is no such thing as an all purpose lighting that will work for everyone. This is not mass production yearbook photos of 1000+ kids using one lighting setup.
    
  • You have to know why to change and how to change.

Personally, I would rather do still life, nature, sports, etc.

 

[WelshMark]

Im not planning on doing it full time, would like to have a lense capable of decent shots for family and friends as they seem to be doing all the asking
The closest i have to 50mm is my 18-150mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

 

[Derrel]

The 18 to 150 should be a pretty versatile lens, as long as the light level is not poor. If I were to buy a single lens specifically for portraiture I would purchase the canon 70 to 200 mm F4 with image stabilization---"the new one",like I said the new model, not the older model with the 67 mm diameter filter threads, although that lens,the old one,is widely available at very attractive prices on the used market.

I honestly think that spending a couple hundred dollars on a 150-200 Watt-second studio flash and A light modifier or two would be better than getting any new lens.

 

[vintagesnaps]

It sounds like you need to figure out how to explain to your friends & family the differences in using a telephoto lens for shooting birds/wildlife/scenery outdoors from a distance/far away, and taking pictures of subjects indoors and up close. And that it would take lighting for portraits indoors compared to shooting outdoors in daylight, and that it's different taking photos of animals you don't pose and people you'd need to learn how to pose, etc.

I think people see a camera that looks reasonably pro and assume mistakenly that whatever equipment the photographer has can work for what they want done, and that a wildlife photographer has developed the skills for portraiture. If you want to do portraits it will take equipment (and it seems likely the f&f aren't going to want to pay for it). So if you decide to do it then you'll need to develop skills and market yourself and learn about contracts, etc. etc.

 

[ac12]

Quote

it seems likely the f&f aren't going to want to pay for it
​

That is why friends ask, to get the pic shot for free.
The conveniently ignore how much all that gear costs you.

 

[ac12]

Im not planning on doing it full time, would like to have a lense capable of decent shots for family and friends as they seem to be doing all the asking
The closest i have to 50mm is my 18-150mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

I would use the 18-150, for now. It is "good enough" to start with. Especially if they are not going to be paying you, or paying you very little, to justify spending $$$ on a portrait lens.

As @Derrel said, you should look into lighting.
Shooting in your home/garage or a friends home, expect the natural/ambient lighting to be poor. So you will have to have a plan-B, which is to have/bring your own light(s).
A lot can be done with a single light and reflectors. So I would start there, as a low cost entry into lighting.

 

[ac12]

Quote

it seems likely the f&f aren't going to want to pay for it
​

That is why friends ask, to get the pic shot for free.
The conveniently ignore how much all that gear costs you.

However, having said this . . .
You NEED practice, so draft some of these friends to be your test subjects as you learn.
Kids are different than adults, so you may also want to draft some of their kids.

Tip:
Get a manequin head to practice with.
I will never complain that you are taking too long, or about how many time you flash the flash in its face