With a wide angle lens, one can have fun making dogs have really big noses. Here you can see the difference between the wide angle and portrait lens. In the (above) wide angle pic, all of the dog is pretty much in focus, from nose to ears; ie large depth of field. Her nose is as big as her cranium, making for a peanut (with shell) shaped head. We know that dogs don't have peanut shaped heads; they're more like, hmm, shoes?Anyways. Below in the portrait pics, I used shallow depth of field, focusing only on the eyes - everything else is fuzzy. At the same time in these portraits, the noses aren't as exaggeratedly huge; they are more normally proportioned, even though the nose is so much closer to the camera than the eyes. I used a 50mm lens for this pic. Besides depth of field, the further you are from your subject, the slimmer they appear. That's why fashion runway photographers use 200mm+ lenses.
They are all waiting for treats. Obviously.I know I'm always pointing this out. Consider how the wide angle distorts dog faces, and now think about what this does to human faces. To YOUR face. Wide angle is cute for dogs, but not for grown up people.
In summary:
* Larger Aperture = Smaller F-stop number = Shallower Depth of Field = More Flattering Portrait
* Small Aperture = Higher F-stop number = Greater Depth of Field = Distorted Portrait and Good For Landscapes
Look!
http://www.yelp.com/biz/ginkgophoto---photography-by-jennifer-zee-san-francisco
My Yelp review page is up. If I've photographed you before, feel free to post a review. I would appreciate it.