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What to Do With Your 85mm Lens. A Guide for New Photographers

Chris Gampat
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01/16/2021
3 Mins read
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The 85mm lens is more a lot more than just portraits.

Lots of folks think that 85mm lenses can only do one thing. But that’s wrong. It’s not as wide as a 50mm or a 35mm, but they can do a whole lot. However, most people buy 85mm lenses just for portrait photography. Indeed, it’s great for this. It flattens a person’s profile very well and makes them look flattering. The truth is, though, that the 85mm lens is very versatile. And you can do a whole lot with it. We’re going to break those down in our roundup.

Looking for a great 85mm lens? We’ve got some fantastic suggestions in our Amazon Camera Shop. Go take a look!

Street Photography

Photographing the streets is traditionally something done with shorter and normal focal lengths. The reason: they want people to feel like they’re right there in the photo. That’s awesome. But there is also a way to tell stories in the streets in a cinematic way. An 85mm lens can do that. If you’re nervous about taking candids of people in the streets, use an 85mm. And check your intentions when you photograph them.

Try This

Go shooting in the streets. Set your camera’s autofocus to continuous. Turn on face detection. Stand in one spot and just wait for something to happen. Shoot when you see a moment that you’re emotionally connecting to.

Landscapes

Photographing landscapes is also something thing you need a wide-angle lens for. But that’s not always the case. Telephoto lenses help you hone in on a particular part of the scene. They let you see the world as an aspect of the scene. This turns into an entertaining exercise.

Try This

Stop your lens down and slow your shutter speed. Create some intentional blur in your landscapes to make the scene look different. The idea is to also swing your camera and lens in a specific way. Start by focusing on the scene. Then point your camera upwards with the focus still locked. Slowly start swinging it back downward. When you get to a normalized plane, snap the photo. Continue to pull through on the swing. Take a look at the intentional blur and adjust accordingly.

Architecture

Photographing architecture is also thought of as something you need to shoot wide with. But that’s not the case. If you have the privilege of using a tilt-shift adapter, you’ll see how fun this can be. But by using an 85mm lens, you can see in a new way. Focus on certain parts of the scene as you’re looking up at the building. Look at the critical details. 

Try This

Lock your white balance. Shoot at 3200K or 5500K. Those are film white balances. Depending on the light, you’ll either get a Blade Runner look or a normalized look. It’s going to be very fun. We know that you can do this in post-production. But if you do that, you’re not going to approach it with the same level of enthusiasm as you would otherwise. Give yourself the give of a more enthusiastic shooting experience.

Obviously, Portraiture

Photographing clients, friends, family, and more can be done with an 85mm lens. Of course, this is the most common use of the focal length. Newer 85mm lenses are very capable. They can do tight portraits, wider portraits, etc. But the cool thing about them is that they can isolate the face or eyes to get the best from the scene. 

Try This

Shoot a portrait. Stop your lens down. Remember that you have the aperture setting for a reason. Do it both stopped down and wide open.

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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.