Blurring the background

[Joanne4]

Hi I was just wondering if anyone could please tell me how to make the background blury when taking a pic.

 

[ksmattfish]

Hi I was just wondering if anyone could please tell me how to make the background blury when taking a pic.

You can do it with a short Depth of Field (DOF). Ways to decrease the DOF are use a wide aperture (small f/#), increase focal length, and decrease camera to subject distance.

This photo was taken with a 50mm lens (35mm film) at f/1.4 and focused as close as it was possible to do so.

 

[Big Mike]

You are not going to get any better advice than that

Nice pic Matt.

 

[skiboarder72]

you can always do it in photoshop too

 

[Bob_McBob]

you can always do it in photoshop too

Faking this kind of blur in Photoshop is pretty much impossible for anything but the simplest scene, and even then it usually looks pretty fake. A filter can't interpret the image from a 3D perspective.

 

[Mitica100]

Faking this kind of blur in Photoshop is pretty much impossible for anything but the simplest scene, and even then it usually looks pretty fake. A filter can't interpret the image from a 3D perspective.

Excellent point!

 

[Mitica100]

Hi I was just wondering if anyone could please tell me how to make the background blury when taking a pic.

Matt's explanation is perfect. There is also another way of blurring the background, but only when the subject is in motion and you 'pan' the camera maintaining the subject in the middle while taking the picture. In other words move with the subject and the background will become a blur (different from the DOF blur explained by Matt). Usually a speed of 1/60 will do the trick, even 1/30 if you're steady handed.

 

[Joanne4]

Should I have said that I am wanting to do this with my digital camera. I have an Olympus Camedia C-4000. Sorry I know nothing about photography.

 

[ksmattfish]

Should I have said that I am wanting to do this with my digital camera. I have an Olympus Camedia C-4000. Sorry I know nothing about photography.

Does it have "portrait mode"? That should set it at a wide aperture. Then zoom out all the way (long focal length). And move your subject in close.

 

[Joanne4]

Thats what I have been trying to do but its not working. In the manual for the camera it even says that the background will blur, but its not working

 

[Big Mike]

Cameras like that have many limitations. They cannot get a very shallow DOF like a nice prime lens on an SLR can.

You can maximize your options by setting the aperture at it's biggest setting (lowest number), zooming to the max, getting close to your subject and setting up so that your subject is far away from the background.