What lens to get for outdoor and indoor portraits

Teri

Hi! I am wanting to upgrade from the EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II Lens to something that will make for more professional looking photos. I am an amateur photographer specializing in family, children, and newborn portraits.

I want to take my photos from looking amateur to looking professional. Right now, my photos look like this (example 1, 2, 3 and 4).

What lens do you suggest upgrading to that I can use for every situation? I need something that is good for full body portraits, head shots, and all the way down to the little tiny features of newborns. I have a budget of about $500.

PBked

Hi @Teri - Don't sell yourself short...you have some great pictures there especially the black and white. @Moose will probably advise on lenses, but remember the most important part of a camera is not the lens but the 12 inches behind it. In other words, the camera does not make the picture...you do. Regards, PBked

matthew88miller

What do you use for your lighting? How much post editing do you do?

Teri

Thanks so much for the feedback. For lighting(indoors) I use two umbrella lights that I purchased on Ebay as well as one window in the "studio".

I do some post editing, but not a whole lot. I mostly just bump up the exposure, sharpen and reduce the noise a bit. If it's a newborn session, I will clean up the skin and give the skin a smooth look. I'm still learning everything about aperture and shutter speeds. I usually shoot in RAW on manual, ISO of 200, 1/200, and 5.6. It changes depending on the setting though.

Moose

Howdy @Teri - With a budget of $500 and the need for creative compositions (outdoors and indoors), I would go for the Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 (see here). This is a great value lens, with a similar zoom range to your 18-55mm kit lens. The key difference is the f/2.8 maximum aperture throughout the zoom range.

With your 18-55mm kit lens, you're limited to f/3.5 when shooting towards the wide end (18mm) and f/5.6 when shooting towards the long end (55mm). As you may already know, lower f-numbers shorten the depth of field, which helps isolate subjects against a silky smooth background. This really makes your subjects "pop".

Now before you jump on this lens, you might also consider a sharp prime lens like the Canon 50mm f/1.4 (see here) or the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 (see here).

Prime lenses are fixed at a given focal length, so with the two above mentioned lenses you'd be fixed at 50mm. In order to compose a shot, you'll have to get up and move around. This isn't an issue when shooting outdoors, however, it can cause some frustration when shooting in small rooms or cramped spaces. If you're studio is a medium to large room, then you have nothing to worry about.

The key advantage with prime lenses, is that they're unbelievably sharp, they perform well in low light (less noise) and they give you an even shallower depth of field with dreamy bokeh (background blur).

If you want the "pro look" one of the above mentioned prime lenses would be your best bet. However, the Tamron 17-50mm would give you the most flexibility when framing shots in a wide variety of spaces.

You've got a great future, keep up the great work and happy shooting! :)