There are many lenses mainly in portrait photography that are recommended for beginners as well as professionals. However, there’s something of a silent hero lurking in a different genre altogether that can complement your gear arsenal perfectly.
I’ve mentioned how I fell in love with photography many times, but really, there are two different career fields that appeal to me. One was portraiture, and it has captivated me for as long as I can remember. I am not so much interested in the glitz or beauty of portraits of aesthetically fortunate people, but rather with portraits that tell a story. I have a lifelong love of street photography and portraits frequently appear in it, as well as portraits of musicians, artists and celebrities.
The second prong that made me want to buy my first camera was much more unusual: the macro. For years, I have admired the work of photographers I vaguely know and their obsession with capturing tiny insects in every detail. I wasn’t interested in entomology before I saw the macroscopic pile of things that I had removed earlier without thinking any further. I couldn’t help but want to try it myself, and so that’s what I did.
In the end, after applying the macro filter and being reasonably impressed with the results, I decided that my hobby of photography and macro wasn’t out of fashion, and so I invested in a macro lens. This purchase is a strange story in its own right, because of my lack of experience, I bought a lens that, even though it was genuine made by Canon, took me several years to identify. It was not something I wanted to buy, but it has been a hidden gem since 1990, and I still have it today!
While I want to buy a dedicated macro lens – ie, one that can take macro photography and some other things, like Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x Macro – I can’t afford it. So I decided to go with the 100mm f/2.8, which is a popular focal length for macro lenses. The benefit of this particular lens is that it can not only do macros, but also function as a regular 100mm prime. In essence, it is your standard prime lens, but with a much closer minimum focusing distance.
It wasn’t long before I decided to try portraiture and my only two lens choices were the nifty 50 and a 100mm macro relic I accidentally bought. To my pleasant surprise, the macro lens is also a great portrait lens. This is a trend I’ve been observing and working towards for over a decade, and while many other photographers enjoy these versatile lenses, I wanted to draw more attention to them.
Why macro lenses make a great addition to your tool bag
The first reason that macro lenses make great portrait lenses is simply the focal length. Longer focal lengths tend to be preferred for many types of portraiture, from 50mm to 200mm. I have often learned about my love for Canon 135mm f/2affectionately known as the “Lord of the Red Rings”, as well as Fujifilm GF 110mm f/2 R LM WR on a medium format content. Then I did a whole series of portraits with Canon 85mm f/1.8 – another cheap gem – and my most used lens for headshots is the Sony 90mm.
Fortunately, many macro lenses that can double as portrait lenses fall within this 85mm to 200mm range (on a full frame sensor). The aforementioned most used lenses for head shots are Sony FE 90mm f/2.8 Macro G OSS, which I purchased for my commercial macro work (and served me excellently in that capacity only). So, why are these focal lengths so appealing? For me, it’s twofold: compression and object separation. When shooting most portraits, the longer the focal length, the better (within reason) to make subjects appear flatter and symmetrical, and my favorite look is in the 85mm range and 135mm.
As for subject separation, this is of course greatly influenced by the widest aperture, and f/2.8 is not the case. wide, but when combined with a longer focal length, it really is enough. Many times when I’m using a macro lens for portraits, I’ll want the background to be blurred enough that the subject is the only thing that catches my eye, and whether I’m using Canon’s 100mm relic or Sony’s 90mm, I haven’t never had a problem with that.
The second reason macro lenses are useful for portraits is the minimum focusing distance that makes them macro in the first place. While there aren’t many opportunities to get extremely close to a subject (and even fewer will allow you), it is very useful, as you can see in the image above and the image by Ryan Beatty. It will allow you to get creative with the details, it will allow you to take some specific types of beautiful images and for that reason is my personal favorite, which is the main goal in both of the example images in this post. write this, it allows you to create a sense of intimacy.
Conclusion
There are many great portrait lenses available at a variety of price points. However, whether you focus exclusively on portraits or you enjoy shooting a variety of genres, macro lens very worth seeing. Macro lenses that aren’t just for macros usually have the right focal lengths for good portrait photography, they’re usually quick enough to open up, and best of all, you can find used examples with good price. If you are looking for a longer prime lens and plan to use it for close-up and portrait photography, you should probably consider the many macro lenses on the market that are often overlooked.
Do you use a macro lens for portraits? Share your favorite images in the comments section below.
Main image of KALEO leader, taken by me for EUPHORIA Magazine.
