A little question..

[MrDonut]

Firstly, I would like to inform that I am a complete noob in photography, and therefore this question might sound silly but I just need to ask it.
As browsing the web, I came across pictures like this one [I do not own it, by the way]:
Click here

My question is: what settings were used in order to make the background really blurry [I can even see some bokeh] but, at the same time, keep the main subject really well focused? Because, you see, I have a Nikon D3100 [so a DSLR camera] and, everytime I take pictures, the background never gets so blurry, and is hardly different from the focused subject [it is a bit blurry, of course, but not so radical as in the picture I've linked]. What settings should I use for that?

Sorry again if that is a stupid question, I'm really new to photography so yeah.. help would be really appreciated :mrgreen:. Thanks!

 

[SabrinaO]

Open up your aperture to the lowest number it can. Do you have a kit lens? If you do, see if f/3.5 gives you enough bokeh for your tastes. Otherwise get a f/1.4, f/1.8 or at least a f/2.8 lens. Its all about depth of field. Opening your aperture shortens the DOF and when you focus on the subject, everything else gets blurred.

 

[fokker]

Also using a long focal length is quite important, so if you're on a kit lens the 55mm end is much better than the 18mm end.

 

[MrDonut]

Thanks a lot, Sabrina and fokker! I understood everything better now
And yes, my lens have the 55mm end.
Anyway, thanks again for answering!