50 portraits

People often ask for my advice on what lens to buy.

My usual reply: "Have you got a 50mm lens yet?"

If i could, i’d shoot everything on my Canon 50mm f/1.4 lens.

It’s a nice mid perspective, not quite wide, not real close. It works well in low light. You can lower the aperture and get lovely depth of field, crisp foreground and beautiful blurry background. It’s small. It’s humble.

It’s also cheap, especially in the f/1.8 variety. Canon users can have it for About US$100. Nikon US$130.

But this is not (only) a sales pitch for a lens, it’s an overlong introduction to a set of photos i’m calling "50 Portraits".

50 photos of people all taken with my 50mm lens.

It’s not a planned project, just something that seemed like a nice collection in hindsight.

50 portraits of people from all walks of life; young, old, black, white, gay, straight, men, women, rich, poor, strangers, friends, celebrities.

See the series in fullscreen.

12 Comments

  1. Love the set Dan! I couldn’t agree on your fondness for the 50. My Nikon 1.8 is the cheapest lens in my set and the most reliable when close enough to use it.

  2. If only it also gave the info and link through option. Have to talk to flickr about it 😉
    Love your work dan!

  3. Hi Dan, I’ve been an avid lurker on your site for the last 2 years or so. Your work is inspiring! I agree, the 50mm 1.8 has to be my best (non-) investment camera-wise. I’ve made money of doing people’s portaits for an initial investment of CAN$100. Suh-weet.

  4. Would a 50mm cut it on a non full-frame body? I found the 50mm great on my film body which is full-frame but on my 400D it’s a tad too narrow.

  5. On a non-full frame body, I’d do a Canon 28mm f/1.8 (not sure of Nikon equivalent) or Sigma 30mm f/1.4 (they make them for both Nikon and Canon) instead.
    Also the 50mm f/1.8 on some Nikon bodies (like the D40) is manual focus only.

  6. Great portraits Dan. You could add a ‘made in 50 secs’ element. I’m sure you don’t get much more time than that with some of those high profile faces.

  7. WOW! thanks for posting this one Dan. I’ve been asked to do a friends wedding in October and have been looking at lenses, i think one of these could help me!

  8. Mat – I’m using the 50mm f1.8 on a Canon 400D and I’m pretty happy with it. You do need to take a few steps away from the subject but this can be useful in being unobtrusive.
    Kathryn – the 28mm is next on my list 🙂
    Dan – brilliant pics, but we all expect that.

  11. Be aware on the newer cheaper Nikons (D40, D40x, D60) the 50mm does not focus automatically (no motor in the camera body.) You have to look for the green dot when focussing. It’s a pain to shoot moving subjects with this lens because of this, but the results are worth it. Something happens to the light that even I can’t explain.

  12. hey dan, your portraits are great, but that goes without saying.
    I’ve been a chronic lurker on your blog for a few years now (is lurker just a nicer way of saying stalker?)
    I just started my own photography blog recently, and i’ve linked to you, so i hope you dont mind!

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