Focus question!

DonWerner

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Hello!

I'm very new to the world of photography, so please bare with me.

I've seen some pictures where the front of portrait is in focus and the back is blurry - and I really like that "effect". My question is - how do I do that?

Check out this link to see an example of what I mean: http://www.donwerner.dk/files/dog.jpg

I use a Canon Powershot S2. I hope someone here can help me? :)

Cheers,
- Don
 
Welcome to the forum.

Every photography has something called Depth of Field. That is the range if distance from the camera that appears in acceptable focus. Anything closer or farther than that range...will appear out of focus.

There are several factors that affect how out of focus it looks. For the most part, changing the aperture of the lens is how we control DOF. A bigger lens opening (Small F numbers) will mean a shallower DOF. A smaller aperture (larger F numbers) will give you more DOF. For what you are trying to do, you will want a large aperture.

Also, the farther the subject is from the back ground....the more out of focus the background will be. It will also help if you use a longer zoom and get close to your subject.

Also, the size of the medium makes a difference...unfortunately, your camera has a small sensor, which makes it harder to get the background out of focus.

Put your camera into Av mode and set the lowest F number, then make sure your background is far away from your subject.
 
Hi Don,
This is called shallow Depth of Field (DOF). Set your camera to aperture priority mode and use open apertures (such as f/2.7 on your camera). This will give you the "blurry" effect your are looking for.

Cheers, Paul
 
The blurry "effect" is called the Bokeh. [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Bokeh describes the appearance or "feel" of out-of-focus backgrounds and foregrounds.[/FONT]
 
Wow! Thanks alot you guys! I can't tell you how much I've learned after joining this forum! You guys are top-notch! :)

Cheers,

- Don
 

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