Find your camera distance
1. Distances in
2. What should fill the frame?
3. Your lens or phone zoom
4. How you’ll hold the camera
Where to put the camera
Head & shoulders · 77 mm equivalent · portrait orientation
- Camera-to-subject distance
- 6 ft 10 in (2.09 m)
- Frame captured at that distance
- 3 ft 3 in tall × 2 ft 2 in wide
- What sets the distance
- the framing’s width
- Clear space to plan for
- about 10 ft 2 in (3.1 m)
Flattering portrait distance. A comfortable working distance with the gentle compression photographers choose 70 mm+ focal lengths for — faces keep their natural proportions.
Holding the camera in landscape orientation instead would need 8 ft 11 in (2.73 m) for the same framing — your current orientation is the space-saver here.
Distances use the standard thin-lens field formula on 35mm-equivalent focal lengths, so expect real cameras to land within a few percent — framing taste, lens breathing and autofocus crop account for the difference. “Clear space” adds about 3 ft (1 m) for you behind the camera.
How far to stand, camera upright (portrait orientation)
| Framing | Phone 1× (24 mm) | Phone 2× (48 mm) | Phone 3× (77 mm) | 85 mm lens |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Face close-up | 1 ft 4 in0.4 m | 2 ft 7 in0.8 m | 4 ft 2 in1.28 m | 4 ft 8 in1.42 m |
| Head & shoulders | 2 ft 2 in0.65 m | 4 ft 3 in1.3 m | 6 ft 10 in2.09 m | 7 ft 7 in2.3 m |
| Half body (waist up) | 2 ft 11 in0.9 m | 5 ft 11 in1.8 m | 9 ft 6 in2.89 m | 10 ft 6 in3.19 m |
| Full body — one person | 4 ft 7 in1.4 m | 9 ft 2 in2.8 m | 14 ft 9 in4.49 m | 16 ft 3 in4.96 m |
| Couple — full body | 5 ft 11 in1.8 m | 11 ft 10 in3.6 m | 19 ft 0 in5.78 m | 20 ft 11 in6.38 m |
| Family of four | 9 ft 6 in2.9 m | 19 ft 0 in5.8 m | 30 ft 6 in9.3 m | 33 ft 8 in10.27 m |
| Pet — sitting | 2 ft 7 in0.8 m | 5 ft 3 in1.6 m | 8 ft 5 in2.57 m | 9 ft 3 in2.83 m |
Nothing about your shoot leaves this page: you pick a framing and a focal length, the geometry runs in your browser, and typed focal lengths are never stored or sent. Analytics count only fixed choices, views, starts, completions, errors and CTA clicks.
Got the shot? Turn it into a custom painted portrait — free preview →How far should the camera be for a portrait?
Distance — not the lens — decides what a face looks like in a photo. Stand an arm’s length away and the nose grows while the ears shrink, because the nose is proportionally so much closer to the camera; stand two metres back and the same face relaxes into its natural proportions. The lens only decides how much of that scene fills the frame. That is why the honest fix for a distorted close-up is never a different filter: it is stepping back and zooming in. This calculator does the arithmetic behind that advice — for a chosen framing and focal length, it reports the one distance that fills the frame, using the standard thin-lens field formula on 35mm-equivalent focal lengths.
The subtlety a rule of thumb misses is that the camera’s orientation changes the answer. A frame is 2:3, so a full-body couple fits a vertical frame from much closer than a horizontal one, while a family of four is the other way round. The calculator checks both the height and the width your framing needs, tells you which one is actually setting the distance, and shows what turning the camera would save. Phone zoom buttons are already 35mm-equivalent — 1× is roughly 24 mm, 2× about 48 mm, 3× about 77 mm — so the presets here speak the same language your camera app does.
Distance is one quarter of the shot — and what this page won’t do
A well-placed camera still needs the rest of the plan: the portrait lighting explorer diagrams where the light goes, the portrait pose ideas deck gives everyone something to do, and the family photo outfit planner coordinates the colors. If you are shooting for a 2:3 print, the photo aspect ratio calculator shows what a 2:3 crop keeps before you frame too tight to survive it.
And to be straight about scope: this page computes geometry, it does not measure your room, know your exact phone model’s tele lens, or upload anything. Real cameras land within a few percent of the thin-lens numbers, phone zooms between optical stops are digital crops, and the framing presets include breathing room on purpose. If the photo you end up with is good enough to love, that is exactly the photo a custom PortraitGift portrait is painted from — you see a free painted preview first and only pay if you print it.
How it works
- Pick the framing — from a face close-up to a full-body couple or family group — and feet or metres.
- Choose your lens or phone zoom (or type any 35mm-equivalent focal length) and how you’ll hold the camera.
- Read the camera-to-subject distance, the clear space to plan for and the distortion verdict — then copy the plan for the shoot.
Frequently asked questions
How far should the camera be for a portrait?
For a head-and-shoulders portrait at a phone’s 3× zoom (about 77 mm equivalent), stand roughly 7 feet (2.1 m) away; an 85 mm lens wants about 7 ft 6 in. Wider settings need less room but should not be used for tight face framings — at 1× (about 24 mm) filling the frame with a face means standing close enough to visibly distort it. The calculator gives the exact distance for any framing and focal length.
Why does my face look distorted in selfies and close-ups?
Perspective, not the camera. At very short distances your nose is meaningfully closer to the lens than your ears, so it renders larger — the “selfie nose” effect. Features look natural again from about 4 feet (1.2 m) and flattering from 6–8 feet with a longer zoom. Distance causes the distortion; the wide lens merely lets you stand close enough to trigger it.
How much space do I need for a full-body photo?
One person, camera upright at a phone’s 1× (about 24 mm equivalent): roughly 4 ft 7 in (1.4 m) of camera-to-subject distance. At 2× it is about 9 ft 2 in, and an 85 mm lens needs about 16 feet — hallway or outdoors territory. Add about 3 feet for you behind the camera; the calculator reports this total as “clear space to plan for.”
My camera lens says 35 mm but it’s an APS-C camera — what do I enter?
Multiply the printed focal length by the sensor’s crop factor to get the 35mm-equivalent value the calculator expects: about 1.5× for APS-C (1.6× for Canon), 2× for Micro Four Thirds. A 35 mm lens on APS-C is therefore about 53 mm equivalent. Phone zoom buttons and full-frame lenses can be entered as-is.
Does this calculator upload or save anything?
No. There is no photo, upload or account anywhere on the page — you choose a framing and a focal length, and the distance is computed in your browser. Typed focal lengths stay on your device; analytics record only fixed choices, views, starts, completions, errors and CTA clicks.
Got the shot? Turn it into a custom painted portrait — free preview →