I've got a nikon d300s and i want to take portraits?

Hi i've got a nikon d300s and a 17-35 mm lens i want to take portraits but full lengh body shots (head to toe) i'm thinking i need a different maybe wider lens i want to get as close as i can to the subject what lens would you recommend

Keep the lens, Sell the D300s and get a used D700. Then you're already much wider. The 14-24 or 12-24 Nikon lenses are of course also great; even the 11-16 Tokina if you stay in DX. I guess you know about w/a lenses and portrait distortion; it starts to get seriously funky. When you don't want that, save up for a 135mm DC, or even an old 180mm f2.8 AF-D or similar. Done.

In 35mm photography, the normal lens is 50mm, a portrait lens would be 85 or 100mm.

A wide angle lens will cause distortion…

perhaps you should try stepping back…

You don't need a wider lens for portraiture, and you don't want to get close to your subjects. If you do this you will get unflattering wide angle distortion of faces and foreheads. The bug-eyed-monster look.

What you want to do is the exact opposite. Longer lens, stand further away.

On your APS-C size sensor (DX Format), a 50mm lens would be ideal. And with your camera's 1.5x crop factor you will effectively get yourself a 75mm lens.

If you want to get full body shots, stand further away - use the "leg zoom" function built into the human body.

Nice, eh?

The closer you get with a wide angle lens then the more distorted the image will be.
For portraits you need something in the 50-135mm length.

The wider you get, the more "fun house mirror" distortion you get when shooting close to the subject.

Example/Articles:
http://www.digital-photography-school.com/rediscovering-wide-angle-focal-lengths

http://www.pcworld.com/...ricks.html

Here is a good quote from
One of the main problems shooting with a wide angle is the wide angle distortion… If you shoot portraits close up, you end up with lots of awkwardly positioned and proportioned limbs.
Here: http://www.boandbro.com/blog/2009/02/photoshoot-recap-gigi-pt-2/

I do 90% of my portrait work with a 24-70 f2.8 either on my main camera (5DMkII) or on my backup (Rebel T1i or Rebel XSi).

The kit 18-55 (ot 17-55 in your case) is a good focal lenght of that type of work as long as you don;t go too wide angle. A fun lens to get is a 50mm f1.8 (around 140$Can).

You want a 50mm focal length or longer for portraits - my standard portrait lenses are the 50mm f1.8 and the 85mm f1.8 and I'll occasionally use an 135mm f2.8.

Going wider is the last thing you want to do.

You'll also need to think about some off camera lighting and modifiers (& how to use them)