Portrait (85mm)

A short telephoto lens common in portrait photography, roughly 85-135mm; this site uses 85mm as its reference. You end up shooting from a moderate distance, so facial proportions look natural, and the narrow view tidies up the background and blurs it easily. Getting close to a face with a wide lens makes the nose and mouth look big, but that is because of the distance, not the lens. Some point out, though, that it strips away almost all context and easily leads to cookie-cutter portraits.

Camera position seen at an angle from above. The 85mm camera stands about 7.8 m from the character, and its field of view is narrower than 50mm.

Camera view. The character is the same size, but the blocks behind look bigger and closer than at 50mm, and less of the street fits in.

How it feels

Natural
Focus
Separation
Calm
Tidy

When to use it

Close-ups, interviews and beauty shoots
Blowing out the background into blur in emotional scenes
Cleaning up a busy background to show only the person

Not to be confused with

Standard (50mm): To frame at the same size, 50mm stands closer, so the background looks smaller, farther and wider.
Telephoto: The longer end of the same telephoto family. At 135mm you stand farther back, so the background looks bigger and pressed up behind the person.
Close-up: 85mm is a type of lens; a close-up is a shot size, how big things look on screen.

Prompt

Keyword

85mm portrait lens

Descriptive

85mm portrait lens, head and shoulders, natural facial proportions, background softly blurred.

Try these combinations

Telephoto portrait + bokeh: an autumn forest
Telephoto portrait in autumn forest, subject sharp, leaves bokeh background
85mm + close-up: a singer backstage
Close-up of a singer backstage, 85mm portrait lens, shallow depth of field, warm practical lights