google pixel 7 pro potrait photography problem
0The Google Pixel 7 series is here, and with that comes the tantalizing prospect of getting our hands on the next notch-up in smartphone photography. Excited? I am, but there are some reservations over here.
While Google is sticking to a familiar camera hardware setup, a new 5x optical zoom periscope camera is included in the Pixel 7 Pro, boasting 30x Super Res Zoom capabilities. That’s an upgrade on the 4x periscope camera in last year’s Pixel 6 Pro, at least as far as long-distance photography is concerned.
As nice as long-range zoom capabilities are, it’s disappointing to see Google engaging in the pointless race for bigger numbers. Worse though, this move betrays some of the other excellent work Google has done in the realm of portrait photography.To understand why the Pixel 7 Pro’s triple camera setup should disconcert portrait photography lovers, we need to cover a little background on focal length. Focal length influences a few key attributes of your pictures: depth of field blur, the field of view, and background compression. Longer zoom levels go hand in hand with longer focal lengths and stronger effects for all of the above.Background compression is the important one here; longer focal lengths make the background appear close to the subject. Meanwhile, shorter focal lengths, such as wide-angle lenses, make the background appear further away. But compression doesn’t just affect the distant background; the effect applies to the foreground as well, including faces. That’s right, the choice of focal length has a powerful influence over face shape in portrait photography, although you can mitigate some of it depending on how far back you stand from the camera.As you can see, the general theme is that shorter focal lengths result in narrow faces, with features pushed more towards the edge of the face. The reverse is true for long focal lengths, with flatter-looking faces and features pushed towards the middle. The sweet spot for a realistic face is in the region of 35-85mm, depending on whether you’re going for full-body or headshots. Around 50mm is ideal in terms of flexibility for both.