For my Nikon D3200, which lens are the most approppriate for portrait photography?

For my Nikon D3200, which lens are the most approppriate for portrait photography?

For full length or half length, 35mm is good. For head and shoulders 50mm or 60mm is good.

I feel that 85mm is too long.

We fit lenses based on the size of the digital sensor. First we determine what focal length will deliver a "normal" view. This is an angle of view of about with the camera held I horizontal (landscape). Mathematically, this will be a focal length about equal to the diagonal measure of the imaging chip. The Nikon D3200 is a compact digital also knows a Dx. The sensor measures 15.4mm height by 23.1mm length. The diagonal measure of this rectangle is 27.mm. We round this value up to 30mm. Thus mounting a 30mm or setting the zoom to 30mm delivers a normal view.

For portraiture most tell us to mount a lens 2 x thru 2 x "normal". That works out to 30 x 2 = 60mm thru 30 x 2 = 75mm. So, a good choice for portrait lens is one that falls between 60mm and 75mm. Note the kit lens that came with your camera zooms out to 55mm. That's quite close enough to do a good job.

Why is this range worthy for portraiture? We compose and focus, filling the viewfinder with our subject. If the lens mounted is too short we naturally work in very close. This closeness to the subject induces a perspective distortion. The nose is reproduced too large and ears too small. These distortions are microscopic but when it comes to the human face these misrepresentations cause our subject to say. "I don't photograph well". The countermeasure is to just step back. Mounting a moderate telephoto does the trick.

Additionally, most portrait photographs are into shallow depth of field. We're taking eyes tack sharp with blurred foreground and background. To accomplish the portrait lens should operate with a wide aperture, perhaps f/1.4 or f/2, at least f/2.8.

One word of caution, some adviser will be taking focal lengths appropriate for a full frame (Fx).

The traditional focal length for portraits ranges from 85mm to 135mm.
The reason for this is that these focal lengths cause a visual compression of the image, a type of distortion, that actually produces a flattering affect. Using shorter focal length lenses will actually have wide-angle distortion which is very un-flattering and will make your subjects look ugly and distorted.
Another reason is that these lenses will have a narrower depth of field (area that is in focus) which will produce blurry backgrounds. The shorter the lens, the greater your depth of field and the less blurry your background will be. Having blurry backgrounds will cause your subject to pop from the page and can make the image feel three dimensional.

Plenty to choose from, look at the 50mm options if you don't mind getting close to your subject, I prefer lenses around the 85mm to 105mm for portraits that range suits me it might not be ideal for you. Some photographers swear by the 70-200 2.8 lenses for portrait work, it really depends on what you can and can't afford, just try to be reasonable with your expectations and be realistic about any limitations of whatever you are buying.

There isn't a right or wrong answer, one lens might be more appropriate for you, doesn't mean that everyone else is going to find it the best option.

These are the lenses I regularly use for portrait work on a crop sensor camera (cheapest first);
- 50mm f1.8
- 85mm f1.8
- 24-70mm f2.8
- 70-200mm f2.8