Everyone finds their niche with photography. Some love photographing landscapes, some love sports photography, macro, pets, and nature. You may love any or all of the previous. You may also find, as I did, that you love taking portraits. Are you constantly posing your kids, grandkids, or nieces and nephews in every nice location you can find? Then you, my friend, have caught the portrait bug. I've definitely got it....part of the reason why I'm a RI family photographer!

When you decide you like taking portraits, you may find that you are somewhat limited by your kit lens or lenses. There's a lot they can do, but they aren't the best in low light, and they don't get you the nice background blur that many people love in portraits. You may have a 50mm 1.8 lens, which is many photographers' first foray into the world of prime lenses with a wide aperture. A good lens, but not necessarily the best for portraits...focal lengths below 85mm can cause some distortion, which you definitely don't want.

So then, what's the best choice when you want to up your portrait game, but not break the bank? Enter the 85mm 1.8 lens.

The 85mm focal length has long been considered the perfect portrait length. Not too short to distort, but not long enough so you're standing miles away. You can create nicely blurred backgrounds with sharp subjects. While the 85mm 1.8 is more expensive than its very budget-friendly little brother, the 50 1.8, it can generally be found in the $350-$450 range (price will vary slightly depending on what camera brand you are shooting). It can be found even cheaper if you are open to buying used equipment. 85mm 1.8 lenses are considered a fantastic value because they perform very well at a fraction of what the higher-end 85mm lenses cost (for example, Canon's 85mm 1.2 lens costs over four times as much as the 1.8).

I currently own the 85mm 1.2, but owned the 85mm 1.8 for a long time before that, and never had any complaints. They are quick focusing lenses, are nice and light, and make backgrounds look dreamy.

Recently, I was able to borrow the 85mm 1.8 in order to take some example photos. All three photos below were taken with an entry-level (crop sensor) camera body and the 85mm 1.8 lens. It's easy to get nice portraits and a nice background without forking over a handful of cash! A lot of people think you need to spend thousands on equipment to get the results you want, but that's definitely not the case.

While the 85 is fantastic for portraits, there are some other things it's really good at, too. One is photographing sports at shorter ranges (such as basketball inside a high school gym). I also love the length for cat photos!

Is the 85mm next on your list? Or do you already have it and love it? Let me know in the comments!

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