Characteristics of a good lens for nude photography
The first characteristic to pay attention to: maximum aperture
In nude photography, you deal with skin even more than in regular portraits. A lot of skin. If you use a high f-stop number, it will cause the naked skin you are photographing to appear too sharp. This will then lead to a crater landscape or you will spend hours on post-processing.
It can work well to start with a low f-stop number. A nice lens to use for this is the Samyang 85mm F/1.4 AF. It is available for, among others, Sony FE, Canon EF, or RF. The nice thing about this lens is that it is very compact and quiet when focusing.
Second characteristic: whisper-quiet
This brings us to a second point to consider when purchasing a lens for nude photography: how much noise the lens makes. You are shooting incredibly intimate portraits. More than ever, you want to capture someone as they are. It is therefore important that a lens is whisper-quiet and makes almost no sound when focusing. This way, your model will behave more naturally in front of the camera, and you can capture those truly spontaneous moments.
With the Nikon AF-S 105mm F/1.4E ED, the Silent Wave Motor ensures that the autofocus is incredibly fast, yet super quiet. This is definitely a good option for Nikon enthusiasts.
Third characteristic: buttery smooth bokeh
In nude photography, you often photograph close to the skin. It is important that the background is nicely rounded in the blur and does not create distracting background spots. The bokeh is therefore very important.
When testing your new lens, pay attention to what the blur in the background does.
Final characteristic of a good lens for nude photography: sharpness and contrast
While you certainly don't want everything to be sharp, it is important that elements like eyes, eyelashes, and for example a mouth are razor-sharp. When purchasing a portrait lens for nude photography, make sure that despite a low aperture value, the parts that are sharp are indeed sharp.
