I use Full-Frame equivalent as standard size of focal length. So 85mm lens here means 85mm in Full Frame System, or 42.5 mm in Micro Four-Third (MFT) System, or roughly 56mm in APSC System.
I’m more than sure this one is not a typical street lens to most street photographer out there. In fact, almost every photographer I have met before (Portrait, Landscape, Toy, Street, Wedding etc) would ask the exact same question “What? Why you shoot with 85mm lens on the street?”
So, is there any particular reason I start to talk 85mm as street lens? Subjectively, 85mm lens makes me feel my photos have more “beauty” inside, more pleasing to eyes, and more 3D pop out. To put is short, it simply produce image that has elegant feel no matter if I shoot people on the street, female model in studio, or even casual shoot of my friends. Something that I never see on wide lens like 35mm, 28mm, or wider when shooting people. This lens makes subjects looks more real, bold, and meaty (Solid).
A little background story, I never thought myself to use 85mm on the street, but when I tried Fujifilm XF56mm f1.2 at the first time (I’m using Fujifilm system till now) around a year ago, this lens just blew my mind, it opened up my inspiration about how to capture a scene. This lens translate people’s facial expression and capture their gesture perfectly. Combine with the fact this lens has big f1.2 aperture make any single subject photo become really pop out compare to background scene, which is help to create stronger story line based on people’s facial expression or gesture.
As we know, at most of the time 85mm considered as Portrait Lens. Portrait word in general means painting/drawing of a person. So, I think that this lens can help me open up a whole new type of shoot. I like to photograph people on the street, so why can not I just take this lens with me? This lens infuse “life” a lot into pictures when I photograph people’s face or gesture. Great tool to telling stories based on single subject shoot. Here are benefit of using 85mm lens for street purpose:
Big and Fast Aperture
Most of 85mm equivalent lenses in the market now have big aperture, even the cheap one (at least at f1.8). I think due the fact that their main purpose is to isolate subject in Portrait shoot by create bokeh effect. Some said that in street photography we need the whole frame sharp from edge to edge with small aperture (smaller than f5.6), to get more content and story line. I do not say that term is wrong, but I think bokeh also has benefit in street shoots. Especially when we shoot a person on the street, we can lead audience to focus more about the main subjects easier (and create stronger point of interest as well). I also like bokeh effect because it creates dreamy / surreal feels in photo that I can use to get more creative shoots. Think that bokeh is just like another photography tool. When our creative mind demand it, use it, otherwise we always have option to step down the aperture.
One of the most benefit of big aperture is the ability to absorb plenty of light. I took the photo above inside a train station at night, low light condition, yet I still get relatively fast shutter speed to freeze train movement without blur.
Isolate Your Subject
Due to nature of longer lens, we get narrower angle of view here. It is really helpful when we want to isolate our subject from unnecessary distraction, even if we shot in the middle of crowd place. Lately I’m more drawn to Minimalism Photography (as my inspiration), I do not have intention yet to start doing Minimalism, but I try to infuse it into my street photos. It makes me feel I can tell story better about a person inside my frame if there are less objects around him/her (the opposite of wide lens, which is we use objects around subject to create stronger story).
Longer Reach
I always a prime lens (lens that can not zoom) shooter, so this benefit only work if you also a prime shooter. It is true with wide lens we have more flexibility in narrow street, but at the same time there are some times when we can not go closer to subject because the condition does not allow us to do it. Longer focal length do the job here. In photo above I captured a person who painting his house roof, I will not think to create this shoot with wide lens (35mm or wider) because the main subject will simply too small and become insignificant. With wide lens I will only get the dynamic triangle and colourful paint. With longer lens like 85mm I also get his face expression as well which is help to make photo has stronger story line.
One other benefit about long reach compare to wide lens is when we shoot at open wide place, such as beach. When I shoot on the beach that not so crowded with people, shoot with wide lens means I need to move a lot (really a lot!), or even running to catch moment that I want. There are times I failed, moment has passed when I arrive at my shooting range. Shooting with 85mm does help me to catch moments better on the beach. By predict moment before it happened, I have bigger chance to catch moment before it disappear compare to use wide lens.
Size
It is true that benefits of 85mm lens I explained above also work on longer lens like 135mm or 200mm. However, 85mm has golden proportional between as long lens and the lens size itself. Many 85mm lenses in modern market have compact size that do not attract attention too much. Fujifilm XF56mm f1.2, Sony FE85mm f1.8, Canon EF85mm f1.8, Lumix G 42.5mm f1.7 are some examples of compact size 85mm lens. Compare to 135mm or 200mm lenses that usually have significant bigger size and weight, which is become less efficient for everyday carry and will give strong intimidate feel to our subject as well.
4 Tips to shoot with 85mm:
- Focus on single subject, get unique subject using some accessories like umbrella, hat, stick, etc.
- Pay more attention to eye contact, face expression and unique shape of body gesture, they are good to create more dynamic photograph.
- Predict moments before it happen. See things not only close around you, but also things that happen a bit far in front of you (and your back or side if able). Predict things that could lead to create good moment. If we see no interesting subjects around us, look a bit far away, search for someone hold umbrella or unique hat or colourful dress, walk to them or wait till they get close enough to us to make a shoot.
- Look for dynamic geometry. Triangle and diagonal line are your source of dynamic composition. We only have few objects inside our photo, search object as dynamic as possible to create strong looks.
When I started shoot with 85mm lens a year ago, I feel like an alien, no one around me do the same, and I feel a bit weird about it as well, why I can love this lens for street while other people around me do not even think about it. So I start to search if any other people that have 85mm vision and I found these people do really great street photography and they become my inspiration to shoot more with 85mm lens:
Thomas Leuthard or check his interview with Erik Kim here
That is all about my thought of shooting street with 85mm lens. It is definitely has different feel compare to wide lens, and I think it is a good chance to switch if you think you get bored (or lost of inspiration) to shoot street with your typical wide lens, because changing to longer lens will force our creative mind in out-of-the box way. Have fun with short-tele lens and see the world in different way, see you!
Keep shooting and stay inspired,
Nico Harold