What's the best lens for portraits?

[Kristen]

I've got a rebel T6i and I want to us it to take pictures of my family both outside and inside, what's the best lens for this? I currently have the standard EFS 18-55. 

[RobertTheFat]

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@Kristen wrote:

I've got a rebel T6i and I want to us it to take pictures of my family both outside and inside, what's the best lens for this? I currently have the standard EFS 18-55. 

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The 55mm end of your 18-55 qualifies as a portrait lens. There are better choices; but if you've got just the one lens, it probably doesn't make sense to buy one of them just for portraits. If you decide that you want to extend your range at the long end and buy a telephoto lens to do that, you may (or may not) decide to use that lens for portraits.

[TCampbell]

For portraits, longer focal lengths tend to be preferred ... and usually there's some separation between foreground subject vs. the background and a shallow "depth of field" (DoF -- the range of distance at which a subject will appear to be acceptably focused) so that you can achieve a sharp focus on the subject, but still have the background far enough behind them to allow for a nicely blurred background.

Longer focal length lenses can produce more background blur.

Closer subject positioning (relative to the background) will produce more blur.

Lower focal ratios (the Aperture value or "Av" -- aka "F-stop") will produce more blur.

Add all three of these up and a long lens with a low focal ratio and close subject position (relative to the background) will create very strong blur.

It's a bit easier outdoors because space isn't usually a problem (e.g. some photographers love to use their 70-200mm f/2.8 lenses as portrait lenses).   But for indoors you often cannot get far enough away to make this work.

A 50mm focal length usually works fairly well for indoor use (although you may have to shoot 'half shots' (waist-up -- not full-body shots) depending on rooms size.

Your kit 18-55 would work well for the focal length at the "long" end of the zoom (the 55mm end) but at that end it will not offer a focal ratio lower than f/5.6 -- which means the background will only be very slightly blurred.  If you want a stronger blur, look at a 50mm prime lens (a prime is a lens that does not "zoom") such as the EF 50mm f/1.8 STM -- this is the most affordable lens in the line-up and it performs well for portraits.  

[ebiggs1]

"I currently have the standard EFS 18-55."

Perhaps not the 'best' but certainly adequate. Use this until you outgrow it. Then take a look at the ef 50mm f1.4, not the f1.8 version.

[Waddizzle]

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@Kristen wrote:

I've got a rebel T6i and I want to us it to take pictures of my family both outside and inside, what's the best lens for this? I currently have the standard EFS 18-55. 

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The EF-S 18-55mm is a good lens to use when you are starting out.  It will work well with the built-in flash, both indoors and outdoors.  A flash can be used as a "fill flash" when you photograph people outdoors who are in shaded locations.

As far as a new lens goes, you may have to invest in a larger flash.  Your EF-S 18-55mm lens works well with the camera because it has a small body, one which does not cast a shadow from the flash under most circumstances. 

Better lenses will most likely mean larger lenses, and larger lenses will most likely project a shadow when used with the built-in flash.  For example, the very popular EF-S 18-135mm lenses can cast shadows under most shooting scenarios when used with the built-in flash.

A separate, external flash raises the flash unit much higher above the lens than the built-in flash, and tend to cast lens shadows far less often. 

So, be prepared for the possiblity of needing to invest in an external flash to use with any larger lenses you may buy.