Nikon 35mm f/1.8 or 50mm f/1.8?

I'm looking at buying a prime lens for portrait photography specifically for senior pictures. I'm looking at the nikon 35mm f/1.8 and the nikon 50mm f/1.8 they would be used on a nikon d40x. What in your ipinion would be a better lens to purchase they are both around the same price $200 the 35mm is maybe a 10-30 bucks cheaper

For portrait photography, I would personally go with the 50mm. Your camera's crop factor makes it more like a 75mm lens so that's closer to the "ideal" portrait focal length.although the 35mm would be good for full body portraits.

Even though on a DX camera a 35mm lens will have an effective focal length of about 52mm, it still retains the characteristics of a 35mm lens - namely, perspective distortion.

Since there's a perspective distortion issue, the 35mm lens is not an ideal lens for portraiture.

http://www.althephoto.com/lenses/35mmprime.php

Perspective distortion results in noses looking bigger and faces looking fatter.

Nikon 50mm f/1.8 is the best