Best lenses for nude photography
When it comes to the best lenses for nude photography, selecting the right lens can make all the difference. The lens you choose can affect your images’ overall mood, tone, sharpness, depth of field, and perspective. In this blog post, we’ll look at some of the best lenses for fine art nude photography in nature and explore their unique advantages. Here are the best lenses for nude photography.
50mm prime lens
My go-to lens for most photos in Natural Beauty is the Canon 50mm 1.2 prime lens. This lens gives you a classic choice for portrait photography and works equally well for fine art nude photography in nature. This lens offers a perspective similar to what the human eye sees. It also has a wide maximum aperture, allowing for a shallow depth of field and beautiful bokeh. Additionally, 50mm lenses are typically lightweight and compact, making them easy to carry around during outdoor shoots. I only brought this lens on most photo shoots for the book, especially if I could “zoom with my feet” to photograph the model.
85mm prime lens
The Canon 85mm 1.2 prime lens is another popular choice for nude photography in nature. It’s the go-to lens for most portrait photographers when your subject occupies most of the photo’s frame. This lens offers a longer focal length, which can create a more compressed and intimate perspective. It also has a wide maximum aperture, allowing for beautiful bokeh and shallow depth of field. One advantage of an 85mm lens is that it allows the photographer to keep a comfortable distance from the model while still capturing intimate details. This is helpful if your model is on a rock in a creek and you cannot get closer without entering the river.
35mm 1.4 prime lens
For a slightly wider angle than the 50mm, which captures more of the surrounding environment, a 35mm prime lens can be a great choice. I love my Canon 35 1.4. It’s a beautiful lens. It is ideal for landscape photography and can work well for nude photography in nature. With a wide field of view, it can capture the model and the surrounding scenery in a single shot, creating a strong sense of place. No lens distortion exists, unlike the super wide-angle 24mm or 28mm. I usually only use this lens in landscape mode.
135mm 2.0 prime lens
The Canon 135mm lens is another good option for nude photography in nature if you want to bring the background closer to the model, a waterfall, crashing waves, or a mountain, for example. The bokeh on all these Canon prime lenses is excellent.
24mm to 70mm 2.8 lens
If I could only bring one lens to shoot nudes in nature, I would probably still go with the Canon 50mm 1.2. My second “only one choice” lens would be the Canon 24mm-70mm 2.8. It’s sharp at 2.8 at all focal lengths and has a wide-angle to portrait range. Its wide-angle range (24mm to 35mm) is ideal for capturing the sweeping landscapes and natural environments that make nature a gorgeous setting for nude photography. A wide-angle lens provides a broader field of view, allowing you to capture more of the natural environment in your composition. A wide-angle lens can also add depth and drama to your images and a sense of scale.
You can use the medium range (35mm to 60mm) for various photography styles, including nude photography in nature. This range is a good choice for capturing your composition’s environment and model. At 70mm and 2.8, the bokeh is excellent. Your subject with be sharp, and the background will be blurred.
Best lenses for nude photos in nature
70-200mm zoom lens
The Canon 70-200mm IS 2.8 zoom lens is a versatile choice for nude photography in nature, allowing the photographer to switch between various focal lengths to capture different perspectives. This lens is used in sports and wildlife photography due to its telephoto capabilities, but it can also work well for nude photography. A longer focal length lets the photographer keep a comfortable distance from the model while capturing intimate details. It’s a heavy lens, so it’s not ideal if you need to hike to your location. If you also bring the 24mm to 70mm, you have a super wide angle (24mm) to the 4x telephoto (200mm), all at a 2.8 f-stop.
Lensbaby Velvet 56
I have never used a Lensbaby Velvet 56, so I cannot recommend it from personal experience. I know several artists who love the lens. It is a unique lens that offers a soft, dreamy effect. It’s a manual-focus lens with a wide maximum aperture, allowing for shallow depth of field and beautiful bokeh. It’s designed to create a vintage, romantic look with a soft glow around the edges of the frame. This lens can add a distinctive, artistic touch to nude photography in nature. Photographers I know who use this lens tell me what they I love the most about this lens is the way it reverts the user’s technique to the way it used to be
Selecting the right lens for nude photography in nature requires consideration of both technical and artistic factors. A 50mm, 85mm, or 135mm prime lens can create intimate and natural portraits, while a 35mm lens can capture a wider angle. A zoom lens offers versatility and flexibility. The Lensbaby Velvet 56 can add a unique, artistic touch to your images. Each lens type offers terrific benefits and can help you create the perfect composition for your nude photography in nature.
