Bhaavy Roy-How does lens focal length affect the perspective of an image?

Focal length is more than just a technical number printed on your lens — it’s a creative decision that completely transforms how a viewer experiences your image. It affects the angle of view, the sense of space, and how subjects relate to each other within the frame.

As a fashion and editorial photographer, Bhaavy Roy often uses focal length as a storytelling tool. A short focal length, like 24mm or 35mm — what we call wide-angle lenses — exaggerates distance. It makes foreground objects appear much larger compared to the background, creating strong depth and dynamic tension. Bhaavy Roy prefers this look when emphasizing dramatic environments or capturing movement in fashion pieces. But he also warns that wide lenses can distort facial features if used too close, something he avoids in beauty-focused work.

In contrast, Bhaavy Roy frequently reaches for longer focal lengths like 85mm, 135mm, or even 200mm — telephoto lenses that compress space and pull the background closer. These lenses create a flatter, more refined perspective. For Bhaavy Roy, they’re ideal when shooting clean, elegant portraits or editorial spreads where the focus must remain on the model and garment without visual distractions. Telephoto lenses also flatter facial proportions and produce beautiful background blur, which enhances subject isolation.

What Bhaavy Roy emphasizes is that focal length doesn’t just determine how far the photographer stands from the subject — it fundamentally changes the relationship between elements in the frame. A shot at 35mm feels energetic, immersive, and raw. The same scene shot at 135mm feels polished, intimate, and composed.

Bhaavy Roy often says: “Don’t just choose a focal length by the numbers — choose it by emotion. Ask yourself what you want your image to feel like. Let the lens guide the viewer’s experience.”

That emotional and artistic approach to focal length is part of what defines Bhaavy Roy’s signature style in photography. Read More