 BetterPhoto Member |
Portrait Photos and Blurred Backgrounds I recently got a Fuji Finepix s7000 and am in love (I think) with it so far. I can get some great shots, but not "the" shot that I want. I want to be able to have my subject in focus, but blur the background KWIM? I have tried changing the aperture and also shutter speed. I've also tried (gasp) reading my owner's manual and just can't seem to figure it out. Thanks so much for helping this newbie!
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- Bob Cournoyer Contact Bob Cournoyer Bob Cournoyer's Gallery  |
I vote for a shallow depth of field (wider aperture/lower number) and moving your subject farther (or is it further?) out or away from the background. Bob
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BetterPhoto Member |
Kelli- Like Bob mentions, you have several factors involved regarding your goal of an out of focus background. Aperture/fstop, focal length of your lens, and distance from subject to background. If you photograph someone who is 20 feet from the background, you will have a more out-of-focus background if you shoot with a 200mm lens at f/4 than with a 50mm lens at f/4. Generally, the longer the lens with a wide-open aperture, the more the background falls off.
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John P. Sandstedt |
One of the rubs with digital cameras is that it's very difficult, if not impossible, to achieve selective focus. This is probably less true with the new SLRs, but I know my daughter-in-law gave it up using her Canon S230. John
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Michael H. Cothran |
This question deals with the laws of optics, and cannot be changed, only better understood, and then applied accordingly. You don't state what focal length your shooting lens is - this makes a real difference. However, here are the three factors that will determine depth-of-field (or lack of it, in your situation). 1. The longer the focal length, the less depth-of-field you will have at any given aperture. Thus, use, to a certain degree, lenses longer than normal (2x-4x are relatively hand-holdable). 2. Depth-of-field decreases as the aperture is opened, so use the widest aperture you can for your specific shooting conditions. Take this with a 'grain of salt' as your best resolving apertures are usually 2-3 stops down, so if you're shooting wide open, you will, most likely, not be using your lens' best aperture, but hey...welcome to the real world - photography has always been, and will probably continue to be, a compromise. 3. Get your subject as FAR away from the background as physically possible, then get as CLOSE to your subject as you can get retaining all of the subject you want in the picture. If you follow these three rules, you will get the maximum 'NON-depth-of-field' possible with your equipment. Still need less depth-of-field?? Then you'll need to buy longer, faster lenses. Michael H. Cothran
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Diane Dupuis |
Hi Kelli! I have the S5000 and love it! I'm not an expert like the guys above, but you should try the portrait mode, and make sure your subject is at least a few feet from the background. I've been able to do it with animals outdoors - just on the auto setting - not even portrait... I can't explain why it works sometimes - but it does! Keep trying - I'm sure you'll figure it out!
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James M. English |
Hi Kelli, I'm not not familar with your camera , but I have gotten the results you describe by using a feature called "center spot focus" . Good luck . Hope you get results.
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John P. Sandstedt |
With any given lens, depth of field increases with smaller aperture. So, you'll have greater DOF at f/16 than at f/2.8. Almost all photography handbooks have the photo series confirming this fact. To use selective focus, an aperture of f/2.8 will allow you to focus on your subject, while throwing the background out of focus. Of course, if your subject is a person's face, you'll need to focus on the subject's eyes since portions of his/her head will not be sharp. If the eyes are in sharp focus, the rest is acceptable. Some of the digital cameras/lenses that have been described in various magazines with aperture ranges that don't correspond to those normally offered in lenses for traditional SLRs. Some have ranges from f/2.8 - 4.0, some have minimum apertures of f/8. A number of folks I've spoken with confirm the difficulty of achieving selective focus with digital cameras [non-SLRs] for this reason.
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Nick Cockman |
Hi Kelli, I own a S5000 from Fuji and also love these shots with very shallow depths of field. The simple way (if not the correct way) that I get the background to be very out of focus is to shoot in either A or M mode on the camera and select the apperture value to be either 2.8 or 3.5, depending on your camera, or the lowest number you can. Next step is when taking the shot, I usual take many steps back from the object which is being photographed, and then zoom in nearly to full zoom or to as much zoom as u can, I think your camera does 6X, well then focus on the object and I find that the background is very out of focus and the subject is very in focus. Try experimenting, by moving a long way away from the object and it should blur!
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