Canon EOS 70D Manual page 18

Go Wide for Environmental Portraits
Sometimes you'll find that a person's environment is important to the story you want to
tell. When photographing people this way, you will want to use a smaller aperture for
greater depth of field (which will put more of your background in focus) so that you can
include details of the scene surrounding the subject.
Also keep in mind that in order to capture the person and their surroundings, you'll need
to adjust your view and use a wider than normal lens. Wide-angle lenses require less stop-
ping down of the aperture to achieve greater depth of field. This is because wide-angle
lenses cover a greater area, so the depth of field appears to cover a greater percentage
of the scene.
A wider lens might also be necessary to relay more information about the scenery
(Figure 4.2). Select a lens length that is wide enough to tell the story but not so wide that
you distort the subject. There's nothing quite as unflattering as giving someone a big,
distorted nose (unless you are going for that sort of look). When shooting a portrait with
a wide-angle lens, keep the subject away from the edge of the frame. This will reduce the
distortion, especially in very wide focal lengths.
Figure 4.2
A wide-angle
lens and a small
aperture allowed
me to show as much
detail as possible
in the room.
ISO 400 • 1/10 sec. •
f/7.1 • 18–50mm lens
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4 : S AY C H E E S E !