Portrait Photography

1

Can i use a 18-55 lens for portrait photography? what are the negative effects?

Hi, i just bought a canon rebel xti and a 18-55 EF-S lens that comes with it. I think i made the wrong choice as i wanted to start in portrait photography. People tell me to use a 50mm lens but what is the difference? Do you have any links that show a comparison of pictures taken with different lenses?

Thanks

I just wrote a long answer on this subject, so I'll take the easy way out and just give you a link to that question.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AsFWhVIQzupI4Btewql9EXGNxQt.;_ylv=3?qid=20080508054617AAyjcty

You can use the 18-55 lens easily for portraits, but stay up in the 50-55 mm end of the lens to avoid distorting your subjects' features. The drawback on this is that it will give you an maximum aperture of f/5.6, which is not ideal for portraits. Read the answer in the link above to see why. Also, read Pooky's answer to that question, which is right above mine. He has some links to examples.

Viewfinders: Portrait Photography Challenge


portrait photography5
portrait photography5
portrait photography5