Focus Foreground, Blur Background

[bdogg]

How do I acheive this effect with my Sony 350? Its a new toy for me and I am trying to self learn through reading on this forum... Thanks for your help! Are there any good sites with camera tutorials?

 

[Lyncca]

In automatic mode you probably have a portrait mode that should do it or in manual you would want to set your aperture as low as a number as possible and zoom in on your subject from a distance. Also, it depends on how far the subject is from the items in the background.

 

[TheSon]

I'm confused on what you're asking...

Wouldn't you just focus on something in the foreground and take a picture? Then the foreground would be in focus and the background would be blurry.

But all I really did was restate your question as a statement.

btw... the wider the aperture (lower the #) the blurrier the bckgrnd will be.

 

[Mr. Murmeli]

Lens is more important on this one. There are three factors which affects "DOF" (depth of field): focal lenght, aperture and the distance of the subject. A shallow one, like you want, can be achieved by setting your lens to higher focal lenght (for example 18-55mm lens --> 55mm), set the aperture wide open (smallest F number), and bring the subject you're shooting closer to you. Try that and it should work. After that you can try for example with a smaller aperture to see how it affects the DOF.

edit: Man, people answer fast here

 

[Big Mike]

Having part of your image in focus, while leaving other parts out of focus is a result of a shallow 'Depth of Field' (DOF). Every photo has a DOF, whether it's deep or shallow depends on a few factors.

Firstly, the aperture of the lens. A large aperture (low F number) will give you a shallower DOF. Many 'cheaper' lenses have a maximum aperture of F3.5 to F5.6 (or something like that). This isn't considered a large aperture. Some lenses have a maximum aperture of F2.8 or F1.8 or F1.4....these lenses can give you a very shallow DOF when used at those large apertures.

Next is the focal length of the lens. You can get a shallower DOF with longer lenses than with wide angle lenses.

Also, the distance to the subject will affect the DOF. The closer you are to the subject, the shallower the DOF.

Now, as objects get farther away from the focus point and out of the DOF range...they start to get blurry in a photo. The farther away, the blurrier they get. So if you want your background to be blurry...put your subject far away from the background rather that close to it.

Depth of field - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia