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When photographing a person or a thing, you may be inclined to try to get as much bokeh as you possibly can. The most efficient way to get better bokeh is to shoot as close to the subject as you can due to the way that depth of field works. But if you do this, also keep in mind the perspective distortion effect. This states that the closer that you are to the subject, the more distorted that the image will be.

While you’ll want to get close to a portrait subject, don’t feel bad if you step back a bit. The longer the focal length of the lens is, the less perspective distortion you’ll generally have within reason. This is why we think that it’s so important for portraits to be done with longer focal lengths. We’ve also tested it and so have others. There are ways to make them look similar, but it all has to do with lighting and post-production.