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royalinks · Jul 4, 2006, 11:21 AM

hi all,

A very important Question for me:

I would like to take a full body portrait from short distance (the shorter the better)

I have tried out using 28mm lens and found that I can capture a person (1.8m hight) from 1.6m distance.

I need the distance to be around 1m. Is that possible ?

Does some1 have any practical knowledge as for using 24mm lens?

I can not afford distortions. (perhaps minor distortions is ok)

any other solution ??

Thanks ppl,

Roy.

amazingthailand · Jul 4, 2006, 4:09 PM

Well, the wider you go and the closer you get, the more likely you are to get distortions. It's all about perspective.
For what you want to do, a 24 might work, but you may need to go wider - maybe 21 or 20mm. 1m is very close to get a full body shot of a 2m person.

surfnron · Jul 5, 2006, 5:15 AM

There are some programs out there that claim they can remove distortion from photos. The ones I have looked at require that they support your camera body and lens. DxO Optics is one.
Ron

royalinks · Jul 5, 2006, 5:26 PM

Hi,

Thanks for that info.

I have used online calculator (http://www.dudak.baka.com/fovcalc.html) and found that 18mm lens should do the job.

The BIG question is if it would be possible to fix the distortios created by 18mm lens (or eqv.), by using special lens or software manipulations ?

Do you have (or any1 else) 18mm (or near) samples of full body portrait of a person ??

Can some1 refer me to relevant info ?

Thanks again !
Roy.

JimC · Jul 5, 2006, 6:16 PM

You'd have at least two problems to contend with.

One would be barrel distortion (common in most wide angle lenses).

Another problem is perspective.

Yes, there is software to correct it to some extent. But, it's primarily used for correcting architectural images.

When you shoot from a very close distance with a wider lens, you run into perspective problems.

The further away you are from a subject, the more compressed the background becomes. The closer you are to a subject, the more spread out the background appears. This causes closer subjects to appear much larger than objects in the background.

Because of the perspective you get from shooting at closer ranges, this can be very undesirable for portraits.

For example, a nose that looks too large for a face, or an outstreched arms or foot that look very large compared to the rest of the body, or breasts that look too large compared to the subject's body (which may or may not be a bad thing). ;-)

If you're not absolutely square to your subject (which is usually undesirable for composition purposes anyway), the problems are magnified even more.

In addition to distortion problems, you'll have to make sure you've got even lighting from so close a distance without casting shadows.

Another problem you'll run into is that most wider lenses don't have a very flat focus plain (making the parts of the subject closer to the edges softer, unless stopping down the aperture enough, and even then, you'll have perspective problems from different distances from the lens to different parts of the body).

Is there a reason you need to shoot from so close?

What camera are you shooting with? If using a DSLR model, most have sensors that are smaller than 35mm film. So, you need to multiply the actual focal length of the lens by some amount to get the 35mm equivalent angle of view (lenses appear to be longer on a most DSLR models compared to 35mm cameras).

surfnron · Jul 5, 2006, 6:22 PM

Roy,
Go here. I don't know what camera you use, but you can look up supported cameras, and their lenses. There are also sample images available.

Ron

Jul 5, 2006, 8:04 PM

One question...why would you want to shoot a full-body image from just 1m away? Here's 28mm from about 1m away......perspective is a tough one to correct.

royalinks · Jul 8, 2006, 8:54 AM

Hi Guys,

First , thank u all for your help, and detail answers!

The reason I need to shot from 1m is that I have installed a camera in a hall and I would like to capture people (full body, not head only) that go through it (andhave only 1m space..)

I understand that capturing high quality images from that distace (according to Jim -Thank u) is not an easy task.

The camera I use now, is very simple one (minolta S414) and has no wide angle lens,

but I can buy a new camera if needed.

Anyway, it seems to me that this solution is not a good1.

I will try to think more how to solve this problem (perhapsmore powerful softwere that can deal with high levels of barrel\perspective distortions..?)

I would like to thank u all again for spending your time and efforts helping me out here (I am new here, and had a great welcoming..) :-)

Regards,:bye:

Roy. (from Israel, so sry for my bad english..)

Jul 5, 2006, 8:04 PM	#7
Guest Guest Posts: n/a	One question...why would you want to shoot a full-body image from just 1m away? Here's 28mm from about 1m away......perspective is a tough one to correct. Attached Images

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Jul 4, 2006, 11:21 AM	#1
royalinks Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 3	hi all, A very important Question for me: I would like to take a full body portrait from short distance (the shorter the better) I have tried out using 28mm lens and found that I can capture a person (1.8m hight) from 1.6m distance. I need the distance to be around 1m. Is that possible ? Does some1 have any practical knowledge as for using 24mm lens? I can not afford distortions. (perhaps minor distortions is ok) any other solution ?? Thanks ppl, Roy.

Jul 4, 2006, 4:09 PM	#2
amazingthailand Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 851	Well, the wider you go and the closer you get, the more likely you are to get distortions. It's all about perspective. For what you want to do, a 24 might work, but you may need to go wider - maybe 21 or 20mm. 1m is very close to get a full body shot of a 2m person.

Jul 5, 2006, 5:15 AM	#3
surfnron Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 578	There are some programs out there that claim they can remove distortion from photos. The ones I have looked at require that they support your camera body and lens. DxO Optics is one. Ron

Jul 5, 2006, 5:26 PM	#4
royalinks Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 3	Hi, Thanks for that info. I have used online calculator (http://www.dudak.baka.com/fovcalc.html) and found that 18mm lens should do the job. The BIG question is if it would be possible to fix the distortios created by 18mm lens (or eqv.), by using special lens or software manipulations ? Do you have (or any1 else) 18mm (or near) samples of full body portrait of a person ?? Can some1 refer me to relevant info ? Thanks again ! Roy.

Jul 5, 2006, 6:16 PM	#5
JimC Administrator Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Savannah, GA (USA) Posts: 22,378	You'd have at least two problems to contend with. One would be barrel distortion (common in most wide angle lenses). Another problem is perspective. Yes, there is software to correct it to some extent. But, it's primarily used for correcting architectural images. When you shoot from a very close distance with a wider lens, you run into perspective problems. The further away you are from a subject, the more compressed the background becomes. The closer you are to a subject, the more spread out the background appears. This causes closer subjects to appear much larger than objects in the background. Because of the perspective you get from shooting at closer ranges, this can be very undesirable for portraits. For example, a nose that looks too large for a face, or an outstreched arms or foot that look very large compared to the rest of the body, or breasts that look too large compared to the subject's body (which may or may not be a bad thing). ;-) If you're not absolutely square to your subject (which is usually undesirable for composition purposes anyway), the problems are magnified even more. In addition to distortion problems, you'll have to make sure you've got even lighting from so close a distance without casting shadows. Another problem you'll run into is that most wider lenses don't have a very flat focus plain (making the parts of the subject closer to the edges softer, unless stopping down the aperture enough, and even then, you'll have perspective problems from different distances from the lens to different parts of the body). Is there a reason you need to shoot from so close? What camera are you shooting with? If using a DSLR model, most have sensors that are smaller than 35mm film. So, you need to multiply the actual focal length of the lens by some amount to get the 35mm equivalent angle of view (lenses appear to be longer on a most DSLR models compared to 35mm cameras).

Jul 5, 2006, 6:22 PM	#6
surfnron Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 578	Roy, Go here. I don't know what camera you use, but you can look up supported cameras, and their lenses. There are also sample images available. Ron

Jul 8, 2006, 8:54 AM	#8
royalinks Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 3	Hi Guys, First , thank u all for your help, and detail answers! The reason I need to shot from 1m is that I have installed a camera in a hall and I would like to capture people (full body, not head only) that go through it (andhave only 1m space..) I understand that capturing high quality images from that distace (according to Jim -Thank u) is not an easy task. The camera I use now, is very simple one (minolta S414) and has no wide angle lens, but I can buy a new camera if needed. Anyway, it seems to me that this solution is not a good1. I will try to think more how to solve this problem (perhapsmore powerful softwere that can deal with high levels of barrel\perspective distortions..?) I would like to thank u all again for spending your time and efforts helping me out here (I am new here, and had a great welcoming..) :-) Regards,:bye: Roy. (from Israel, so sry for my bad english..)