nikon d40--bokeh effect

[kcaj]

a new user here of nikon d40. new to photography as well. i want to have that bokeh effect shot. ive set my camera to aperture priority and to the lowest number but the background isnt that blurry. or sometimes the subject is blurry and background is clear.
should i be standing close to the subject or just zoom in on it?

 

[Socrates]

a new user here of nikon d40. new to photography as well. i want to have that bokeh effect shot. ive set my camera to aperture priority and to the lowest number but the background isnt that blurry. or sometimes the subject is blurry and background is clear.
should i be standing close to the subject or just zoom in on it?

You want a lens that opens up fairly wide (low f-number) and, of course, you want to take advantage of that capability. Closer gives more blur. Zooming the lens out also gives more blur.

Strictly as an example, consider a 50mm focal length with an opening of f/1.4 and a subject distance of ten feet. Your DoF will be roughly six to eight inches.

By the way, a clear background with blurry subject means you (or your camera) didn't focus correctly.

 

[doenoe]

for all i know, the background has to be further away from the subject. As for the subject being blurry and the background clear, that sounds like you focused on the background.
Just so you know, this is a simple explanation. Someone might come in and talk about the different lenses and focal lenght and stuff. But im not very good at that, so you might wanna wait for a more educational answer

 

[JerryPH]

Search please. This topic is covered in nauseating detail many times.

 

[sabbath999]

Search please. This topic is covered in nauseating detail many times.

Odd. I have never felt like throwing up when reading about bokeh. Perhaps I have a strong stomach.

 

[JerryPH]

Thats one of the effects of being a good photographer... the info will render most newbs dizzy, vomitous and in need of minor medical attention.

 

[Mav]

This is covered in the FAQ thread. Basically you want to zoom in as much as possible, and use the largest aperture that your lens has, and preferably have the background as far away as possible. If you just have the 18-55 kit lens then it'll be difficult. It's much easier with the 55-200 lens that they also sell in kits.

 

[jols]

this was taken with a d40x with the kits lens 18-55mm

pm me if you want any help as if you carry on this thread it will just get into a silly banter between people

 

[usayit]

Aperture= wider will result in less DOF

Focal length = Longer the focal length, the shallower the DOF

Distance to subject = the shorter the distance the shallower the DOF.

 

[TamiyaGuy]

The 18-55 kit lens can have quite a good bokeh, if used right. Set the aperture to the lowest f-number you have (between 3.5 and 5.6 depending on the zoom), and take a photo. Note that the following things will all affect the depth of field.

-Distance between the subject and the background: If you have the subject leaning on the wall, you'll need a stupidly narrow DOF in order to get the wall out of focus.

-Focus distance: Something that's 50cm away from the camera will have a more out of focus background than something that's 5m away.

-Zoom: At 55mm, there will be less DOF than the same photo composed at 18mm.

Hope everything works out!

Edit: Ah, nuts, Usayit beat me.

 

[jols]

forgot to say my pc [see above] was taken on auto

 

[kcaj]

everyone who shared their tips and other insights, thanks!

 

[Rachelsne]

It sounds like your trying to experiment which is great, if you avoid auto, you have a few more options available to you.

Im not familiour with nikon but I know with my canon I have 9 points in my view finder (I expect you have something similar) and I choose which point is where I want my camera to focus.

Which ever lens you are using use the lowest F number to start with and see how that looks, and experiment, sometimes the amount of brokeh will depend on the f stop and how close your subject is to the background.

other members mentioned using the search option in the top of the screen, Ilove this function, and have spent many hours typing in random photography words to find out about them-make sure you got time on your hands as it can be adicting