Potrait with D80 Kit lens?

[RAVE3110]

hie guys,
i am new here and i've just got myself a d80 with kit lens

question to ask,.....
is it possible to capture nice potrait with kit lens?

i am pretty confused with DOF.
it seems like i have to zoom in to 135mm with 5.6aperture to get the DOF effect.
but then the object will gets bigger, which is not suitable for potrait.

any advices on this ?

Thanks

[zac08]

Originally Posted by RAVE3110 hie guys, i am new here and i've just got myself a d80 with kit lens question to ask,..... is it possible to capture nice potrait with kit lens? i am pretty confused with DOF. it seems like i have to zoom in to 135mm with 5.6aperture to get the DOF effect. but then the object will gets bigger, which is not suitable for potrait. any advices on this ? Thanks

Simple, place the BG as far back as possible... and you dun always need to use it wide-open, you can get bokeh even at f8.

Just keep trying.

[RAVE3110]

Originally Posted by zac08 Simple, place the BG as far back as possible... and you dun always need to use it wide-open, you can get bokeh even at f8. Just keep trying.

erm u do u mean to ask the person for potrait to stand far from the background? and where do i stand next? near or far away from the potrait?

[Adelfin]

Originally Posted by RAVE3110 erm u do u mean to ask the person for potrait to stand far from the background? and where do i stand next? near or far away from the potrait?

do read these things up... u can find books on basic photography and dof in the library.. best of all it's free..

just for a start.. dof is controlled by a few things..

aperture.. the larger the hole (smaller the number) the less depth of field
distance from subject to background - the greater the lower depth of field
distance from lens to subject - the shorter the less depth of field u get..

go experiment!

[JoshSiao]

Actually, 135mm was traditionally used as a portrait focal length but on a 1.5 crop like the D80 it may be too great at 202.5mm. However, it all depends on your portrait preference. If for example you stand about 1.5-2.5 metres away a half body portrait will require about 50-85mm. I if you like tighter crops of the face then 85-135mm will do the trick.

[RAVE3110]

thanks for all the advices. i shall try it out this weekends.

[posez]

Originally Posted by Adelfin do read these things up... u can find books on basic photography and dof in the library.. best of all it's free.. just for a start.. dof is controlled by a few things.. aperture.. the larger the hole (smaller the number) the less depth of field distance from subject to background - the greater the lower depth of field distance from lens to subject - the shorter the less depth of field u get.. go experiment!

I would add that the longer the focal length (i.e. 135mm as compared to 18mm) the lower the depth of field.

However, portraiture tends to be the most natural when shot betwen 50-135mm. That's about 35mm to 85mm on our x1.5 sensor size.

Could I also suggest that you consider getting a 50mm f/1.8 as your next lens. It really fast, excellent for portraiture. Nice bokeh too, and f/1.8 really allows you to practice contorl on DoF. It's only $160 or so brand new.

Good luck and good shooting!