The Best Lenses for Portrait Photography: Finding Your Perfect Match

Choosing the right lens can transform the way you capture portraits. Each lens has its own personality, offering different looks and styles. Here’s a breakdown of the best lenses for portrait photography and how they can elevate your shots:

1. 24–70mm f/2.8 – The Versatile Storyteller

This is the lens I used during my recent moody portrait session. Its range allows you to go from wide, environmental portraits to tighter, more intimate shots without switching lenses. The f/2.8 aperture also helps create beautiful background separation, adding depth and focus to your subjects.

Best For: Street portraits, lifestyle photography, environmental shots.

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2. 50mm f/1.8 – The Nifty Fifty

A favorite among photographers for its affordability and sharpness. Its perspective is close to what the human eye sees, making it perfect for natural-looking portraits.

Best For: Everyday portraits, low-light situations, travel photography.

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3. 85mm f/1.4 – The Classic Portrait Lens

The 85mm is iconic for portraiture because of its creamy bokeh and flattering compression. It’s perfect for isolating your subject and creating that dreamy, blurred background.

Best For: Headshots, fashion photography, fine art portraits.

4. 70–200mm f/2.8 – The Master of Distance

When you want to capture intimate moments without getting too close, the 70–200mm shines. Its compression effect makes backgrounds appear closer and beautifully blurred, perfect for capturing emotions discreetly.

Best For: Candid portraits, event photography, street sessions.

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Choosing the right lens is about knowing the mood and style you want to create. Each of these lenses can add its own magic to your work. Next time you’re planning a portrait session, think about the story you want to tell—and pick the lens that brings it to life.

Shooting Budapest with Fomapan: A Love Letter to Analog

There’s something about Budapest that feels timeless. Its grand architecture, cobblestone streets, and soft glow over the Danube evoke a sense of nostalgia that seems almost crafted for analog film. On my third trip to this amazing city, in January 2025, I wanted to capture that feeling—not just in image, but in experience. So I packed my Fomapan 400, a Czech black-and-white film known for its classic grain and moody contrast, and wandered the city with my camera in hand.

Why Fomapan?

Fomapan is a gem in the world of analog photography. Manufactured in the Czech Republic by Foma Bohemia, it’s a film that has held its legacy since the 1920s. Unlike many modern films that lean towards fine grain and hyper-sharpness, Fomapan embraces imperfection—its grain is pronounced, its contrast is bold, and its aesthetic is unapologetically vintage.

For my time in Budapest, I wanted that rawness. I wanted the imperfections, the texture, the grit, and the dramatic contrasts that would reflect the soul of the city. Fomapan 400 gave me exactly that.

The Magic of Analog

There’s a deliberate nature to shooting film that I love. You compose carefully, you measure light with intention, and you click the shutter knowing each frame is precious. With Fomapan, that ritual is even more significant. Its latitude allows for subtle mistakes, its tones encourage experimentation, and its imperfections make each image unique.

In a digital world, the tactile experience of analog is a breath of fresh air. From loading the roll to hearing the shutter click, to finally unspooling the negatives and seeing Budapest appear in shades of black and white—it’s magic. It’s pure photography.

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Capturing Intimacy from Afar: How the 70–200mm Lens Let Me Photograph Sant Jordi in Silence

This year during Sant Jordi—Barcelona’s most poetic and passionate day—I wandered the streets with something slightly unexpected in my hands: a 70–200mm lens.

Known for its reach and compression, this lens is typically associated with sports or wildlife photography. But for me, on April 23rd, it became a tool for silent storytelling. Amid the flower stalls, book stands, and slow, joyful chaos of lovers and readers sharing space, I wanted to capture the intimate gestures that define this day—without interrupting them.

And the lens delivered. Quietly, powerfully.

Distance = Honesty

What struck me most was how much authenticity I could preserve by keeping my distance. Using the longer focal lengths (135–200mm), I could observe soft smiles, the way fingers grazed the covers of books, or the fleeting moment a rose was handed over. These were not poses—they were true, unscripted scenes. Being far enough to be invisible meant that people stayed fully present with each other, not with me.

Visual Compression That Tells a Story

The 70–200mm also allowed me to compress scenes, stacking layers of roses, people, and bookshelves into single, rich frames. It brought visual order to the celebration’s natural chaos. Instead of wide, busy shots, I could isolate moments with clarity and emotion.

Moving Slowly, Observing Deeply

Photographing with this lens changed my physical behavior. I didn’t chase moments—I waited. I became quieter, slower, more deliberate. I blended into walls and corners, and let the festival unfold in front of me. And in return, I got images filled with stillness, emotion, and light—qualities I always seek in my portrait work.

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The Legendary Nikon F & Annie Leibovitz: A Love Affair with Storytelling Through the Lens

Annie & Mick Jagger, 1976

The Nikon F, released in 1959, wasn't just a camera—it was a revolution. As one of the first successful 35mm SLR (Single-Lens Reflex) cameras, it became the gold standard for professional photographers throughout the 1960s and ’70s. Rugged, reliable, and beautifully engineered, it offered photographers something rare at the time: complete creative control in a portable form.

One of the most iconic figures to wield the Nikon F was Annie Leibovitz. While she later became synonymous with medium format cameras and digital systems, her early years—especially during her time at Rolling Stone magazine in the 1970s—were shaped through the viewfinder of the Nikon F.

While studying at the San Francisco Art Institute, Annie began to hone her eye for portraiture. Her early assignments at Rolling Stone magazine demanded mobility, intimacy, and immediacy — qualities the Nikon F delivered effortlessly. Its mechanical simplicity allowed her to be present, fluid, and intuitive in fast-paced environments. She could shoot in low light, on the fly, and with minimal setup — crucial for her spontaneous, character-driven style.

Armed with the Nikon F, Annie photographed a generation in flux — John Lennon, Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan, and Hunter S. Thompson, often in unguarded moments. The camera helped her capture not just faces, but emotional truths. One of her most iconic images — John Lennon curled naked beside Yoko Ono just hours before his assassination — was taken with this approach, a blend of technical mastery and vulnerable humanity.

With this camera, Annie captured raw, unfiltered portraits of rock stars, activists, and counterculture icons. The Nikon F became an extension of her presence—fast, intuitive, and unobtrusive, allowing her to get close, emotionally and physically, to her subjects. Her work with this camera helped define an era of intimate, narrative-driven portraiture.

🖤 The Nikon F didn’t just document history—it helped create it. For Annie, it was the tool that let her see stories before she told them.

Why I Love Shooting Portraits on Polaroid — Imperfect, Instant & Intimate

Using the Polaroid Now with these ones :)

There’s something magical about capturing a person on Polaroid. No filters. No editing. Just light, time, and presence.

I love using my Polaroid for portraits because it brings people into the moment. The click. The wait. The reveal.

Every shot is one of a kind — perfectly imperfect, with dreamy tones and raw emotion.

I even experiment with emulsion lifts, creating layered, handmade artworks from instant photos.

📸 What is an Emulsion Lift?

The Emulsion Lift Technique involves carefully separating the delicate image layer (the emulsion) from its original Polaroid backing. Once removed, this fragile layer can be transferred onto new surfaces like watercolor paper, glass, wood, or even fabric, giving your Polaroid portraits a dreamy, vintage look that is impossible to replicate digitally.

✨ Why It’s Perfect for Portraits:

• Soft, Dreamy Textures: Emulsion lifts add an organic feel that enhances the softness of skin tones and the richness of shadows.

• Creative Freedom: You can stretch, tear, and manipulate the emulsion during the transfer process, giving each portrait a hand-crafted touch.

• Unique Keepsakes: Each emulsion lift is completely unique—no two are alike, making your portraits truly one of a kind.

💡 Want to Learn How?

I teach the Emulsion Lift Technique, and I’d love to share my tips and tricks with you! Drop your email in the comments, and I’ll send you exclusive tutorials and insider secrets!

There’s a raw honesty in instant photography that no digital filter can replicate. With Polaroid, every portrait becomes a tangible memory — one-of-a-kind, perfectly flawed, beautifully fleeting.

📷 Here’s what I love the most:

• It slows me down. Each frame matters, so I connect deeper with my subject.

• It’s tactile. The texture, the chemistry — the photograph becomes an object, not just an image.

• It invites play. I manipulate the emulsion, lift layers, experiment. Each piece becomes a small artwork.

• It’s personal. My portraits feel less like documentation and more like emotion captured on paper.

Polaroid taught me to embrace imperfection — and in that, I found something timeless.

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