Why Your iPhone Portraits Don't Look Professional (And How Focal Length Is the Answer)
- Feb 18, 2025
- 3 min read
Updated: Apr 10
It's one of the most common frustrations we hear from business owners: why do the team photos on our website look so different from what the photographer produces?
The equipment plays a role, of course. But the single biggest factor is something most people have never thought about: focal length.
KGMG Creative photographer Nic demonstrates the difference in the video above. Here's what's actually going on, and what you can do about it.
Why smartphone portraits look the way they do
Most smartphone cameras have a primary lens with a fixed focal length of around 24mm to 28mm. This is a wide-angle focal length, well suited to landscapes and architecture, where you want to capture a broad scene.
It is not well suited to portraits.
At 24mm, a camera needs to get quite close to a person to fill the frame with their face. And when a camera is close to a subject at a wide focal length, it introduces distortion. Noses look larger. Faces look wider. The perspective feels slightly off in a way that's hard to pinpoint but immediately obvious when you compare it to a professionally taken portrait.
Smartphone portrait modes try to compensate for this using computational photography, artificially blurring the background and sometimes applying subtle corrections. The results have improved dramatically in recent years, but they still don't replicate what a dedicated lens at the right focal length produces.
The portrait sweet spot: 85mm to 135mm
Professional portrait photographers overwhelmingly reach for lenses in the 85mm to 135mm range, and for good reason.
At these focal lengths, the photographer can stand a comfortable distance from their subject. This changes the perspective in a way that's immediately flattering. Facial features retain their natural proportions. The compression effect of a longer lens subtly flatters the subject without distorting them.
The background also blurs beautifully at these focal lengths, which is that creamy, soft out-of-focus quality you see in professional headshots. It's not a filter or a post-processing trick. It's physics: a longer focal length with a wide aperture creates a shallow depth of field that separates the subject from the background naturally.
What about group shots?
Group photography introduces a different challenge. With multiple people in the frame, you need enough depth of field to keep everyone in focus, and enough width to fit everyone in without making the image feel cramped.
Nic typically uses a slightly shorter focal length for group shots, around 50mm to 85mm, and increases the aperture (a higher f-number) to bring more of the scene into focus. The goal is to keep the group sharp without losing the background separation that makes the image feel professional rather than documentary.
Positioning the group correctly relative to the light source matters enormously here. Even lighting across multiple faces is much harder to achieve than lighting a single subject, and it's one of the reasons group portraits benefit significantly from a professional approach.
Practical tips for better portraits with what you have
If you're taking portraits on a smartphone and a professional shoot isn't currently in the budget, these adjustments will make a meaningful difference:
Use portrait mode, but review the results carefully. Check that the background blur hasn't created unnatural edges around hair or shoulders. On newer devices the results are often very good.
Step back further than feels natural. The closer you are to your subject at a wide focal length, the more distortion you introduce. Give yourself more distance and crop in if needed.
Use your phone's telephoto lens if it has one. Most modern smartphones have a 2x or 3x telephoto option. This is a longer focal length and will produce noticeably better portrait results than the standard lens.
Find good light first. Even the best lens choice won't save a badly lit portrait. Position your subject facing a window or in open shade outdoors.
Keep the background clean and uncluttered. A longer focal length blurs the background, but the subject still needs to separate visually from whatever is behind them. Avoid busy, distracting backgrounds.
When it's worth investing in professional portraits
Team photos, headshots and brand portraits are some of the most-viewed images on any business website. They're also the images that do the most work in building trust with potential clients, because people do business with people, and a well-taken portrait communicates competence, approachability and professionalism in a way that no amount of written copy can fully replicate.
KGMG Creative photographs business portraits and team shoots for businesses across the Macedon Ranges and Central Victoria. Sessions are efficient, relaxed and produced specifically for use across websites, social media and marketing materials.
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