Choosing The Right Lens For Nude And Glamour Photography

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Quite a few photographers like to have a huge array of lenses encompassing everything imaginable from extreme wide angle to long telephoto. In reality however, this is frequently a sign of gadget mania rather than genuine need and most should find that working with just a few superb quality lenses is a preferable idea.
When photographing a nude model, the majority of photographers will aim to create an image that is visually attractive without distortion or unflattering effects. With a far off scene like a nude woman in the landscape it is very possible to use a wide angle zoom lens, but as you move closer that same lens is likely to produce unwanted distortion and this is especially evident with cheaper lenses. When working in an indoor location using a full frame 35mm digital camera, I endeavor to shoot with lenses no wider than 35mm at most and even this is not ideal most of the time.
Rather surprisingly to some, one of the most useful lenses available for shooting a nude body is the frequently forgotten basic 50mm lens, that is invariably the most economical option in every camera maker’s lens range, but without exception of superb optical quality, suffering from almost zero distortion or chromatic defects.
When pictured in relative proximity the female nude will frequently look slightly more curvaceous than in reality with a 50mm lens but not in an unflattering or exaggerated fashion and the same rule would apply equally to glamour photography. This is roughly the same as the 80mm lens on a medium format camera, which is my primary choice when shooting nudes or glamour images, since I generally prefer the less elongated proportions of medium format pictures.
Another useful lens would be the 85mm, though often thought of more as a portrait lens all the major camera makers like Canon and Nikon etc. offer an optically wonderful version which can be employed in almost any situation successfully. Rather like the 50mm lens it also invariably has a wide maximum aperture allowing the photographer to simply blur the background if desired.
One alternative possibility that should not be ignored is a good quality zoom lens, like the Canon 24-105L for example, which covers all the required focal lengths for most tasks while removing the need to change lens every 30 seconds during a shoot. There was a time when zoom lenses were not really thought viable for top quality professional usage but these days the better lenses are very good indeed and very convenient. Lenses with built in image stabilisation are also useful for photography without a tripod in dark conditions.
glamour photography