New to forum! How to get that softness/out of focus look to background?!?!

[cameleon]

Rebecca, it depends how u put ur question on the forum. U post a pic of whatever, with no explanation of ur vision, no EXIF data, nothing to help them figure out what u want... Then yes, ppl will eat u alive.

But u explain what u were going for, Where u think u mat have failed or succeeded, numbered ur pics, EXIF data etc... Ppl will see that u are competent and worth their time.

It works both ways.

 

[eUgalde13]

Great advice from previous posts and I also recommend this video and buying the book "Understanding Exposure" ed.3 by Bryan Peterson.
I like your camera BTW :mrgreen:



Link: ‪Understanding Depth of Field by Changing Aperture with Bryan Peterson‬‏ - YouTube

 

[KmH]

Get a nifty fifty prime lens. It is cheap and works well.

A lot of photography neophytes run into focusing trouble with the nifty-fifty Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Camera Lens because they don't understand how shallow the field of focus (depth-of-field, or DOF) can be when it is used at a wide aperture setting.

While the optics in the lens are actually more than adequet I am concerned about the Canon nifty-fifty's really poor build quality and small number of aperture blades (only 5 blades). The lens doesn't stand up well if mis-handled, and the aperture blade issue negatively effects the lens' 'circle of confusion' (bokeh) which makes blurred backgrounds look unappealing.

 

[Robin Usagani]

You can easily blur the background with your 55-250. The key is to really zoom in, and make sure the background is a little far. The farther the background the more blur you have. You also get more blur the closer you are and the more zoomed in you are to the subject.

 

[MTVision]

Take everyones advice and then play around with your camera - thats how I was able to achieve bokeh. I just have 2 kit lenses (18mm-55mm and 55mm-300mm) and I can achieve it with both lenses.

 

[KmH]

Playing around with your camera will not achieve bokeh, since bokeh is an unadjustable, inherent result of the lens design. You cannot increase, or decrease, the bokeh a lens produces.

Bokeh is not a blurred background. A blurred background results from achieving a shallow DOF (depth-of-field).

 

[MTVision]

Playing around with your camera will not achieve bokeh, since bokeh is an unadjustable, inherent result of the lens design. You cannot increase, or decrease, the bokeh a lens produces.

Bokeh is not a blurred background. A blurred background results from achieving a shallow DOF (depth-of-field).

I know you are basically an expert but from everything I've heard and read I came to the understanding that Bokeh is what the blurred background is called. If I'm wrong - that doesn't really matter. So I will rephrase my advice -

Play around with your camera until you learn how to get the blurred background.


Wikipedia
In photography, bokeh (Originally

/ˈboʊkɛ/[SUP][1][/SUP],

/ˈboʊkeɪ/ boh-kay, and also sometimes heard as

/ˈboʊkə/ boh-kə,[SUP][2][/SUP] Japanese: [boke]) is the blur,[SUP][3][/SUP][SUP][4][/SUP] or the aesthetic quality of the blur,[SUP][5][/SUP][SUP][6][/SUP][SUP][7][/SUP] in out-of-focus areas of an image, or "the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light."[SUP][8][/SUP] Differences in lens aberrations and aperture shape cause some lens designs to blur the image in a way that is pleasing to the eye, while others produce blurring that is unpleasant or distracting—"good" and "bad" bokeh, respectively.[SUP][3][/SUP] Bokeh occurs for parts of the scene that lie outside the depth of field. Photographers sometimes deliberately use a shallow focus technique to create images with prominent out-of-focus regions.

Bokeh is often most visible around small background highlights, such as specular reflections and light sources, which is why it is often associated with such areas.[SUP][3][/SUP] However, bokeh is not limited to highlights; blur occurs in all out-of-focus regions of the image
Although difficult to quantify, some lenses enhance overall image quality by producing more subjectively pleasing out-of-focus areas. Good bokeh is especially important for large-aperture lenses, macro lenses, and long telephoto lenses because they are typically used with a shallow depth of field. Bokeh is also important for medium telephoto "portrait lenses" (typically 85–150 mm on 35 mm format) because in portraiture photography, the photographer typically seeks to obtain a shallow depth of field to achieve an out-of-focus background and make the subject stand out.

 

[enzodm]

I know you are basically an expert but from everything I've heard and read I came to the understanding that Bokeh is what the blurred background is called. If I'm wrong - that doesn't really matter. So I will rephrase my advice -

Play around with your camera until you learn how to get the blurred background.

what Keith is saying, and that you can also find in the Wikipedia article, is that bokeh is the quality of blurred areas (whatever it is), not simply the blur as a fact (ref. 5,6,7,8). However, according to Wikipedia, a couple of references (3,4) use bokeh in the same sense as you, so you are allowed to . Consider though that most non-beginner photographers will refer to the main intended meaning. While most beginners refer to the other sense.
Since quality (=bokeh) depends mostly on lens physical features (optical schema, blades), you cannot generically achieve bokeh, although you may achieve blur.

 

[MTVision]

I know you are basically an expert but from everything I've heard and read I came to the understanding that Bokeh is what the blurred background is called. If I'm wrong - that doesn't really matter. So I will rephrase my advice -

Play around with your camera until you learn how to get the blurred background.

what Keith is saying, and that you can also find in the Wikipedia article, is that bokeh is the quality of blurred areas (whatever it is), not simply the blur as a fact (ref. 5,6,7,8). However, according to Wikipedia, a couple of references (3,4) use bokeh in the same sense as you, so you are allowed to . Consider though that most non-beginner photographers will refer to the main intended meaning. While most beginners refer to the other sense.
Since quality (=bokeh) depends mostly on lens physical features (optical schema, blades), you cannot generically achieve bokeh, although you may achieve blur.

Sounds good! Its bothersome because every website/person describes bokeh (and everything else) differently. I'll probably shut up now and not post anymore since I don't know what I'm talking bout half the time.

 

[rambler]

Try This:

1 Find some blooming flowers, on a bush or tree.

2 Get one bloom at eye level ( you might even be lying down, kneeling or even better sit in a chair. Tripod, too, if you have one)

3 Use your 200mm lens, back away from the subject, but zoom in as far as possible and get a good focus.

Using aperture priority take the image using f/16 then another using f/5.6. Try other combos of high and low aperture numbers.
Compare the backgrounds. You should find the blurred backgrounds with the wider aperture settings (lower numbers).

You can put the flowers in a vase on a table indoors with side light from a window and try it.

Here is another technique I am just learning. Panning. For example follow a moving bike with your camera and take the picture with the camera in motion trying to focus in on the biker (or any moving subject). The background should be blurred, the hard part is getting a good sharp focus on the subject. Use a slow shutter speed. Too fast and you stop the motion completely.


Here is an example of why to use a long lens and zoom in to get less background and , therefore less to blur:

Stand 5 or 6 feet away from a salt shaker or some object on your kitchen table.

Look at it through a toilet roll tube, then look at it through a longer paper towel tube.

Note how much background or to the sides you see. You will see a lot more with the shorter tube than you will with the longer. Your eye is he camera, the tube the lens.

 

[rambler]

OOPS! Sorry, I posted the above before I saw the Peterson video. Guess where to learn more about "Panning". Look in Peterson"s book on " Understanding Shutter Speed" !

 

[RebeccaAPhotography]

Try This:

1 Find some blooming flowers, on a bush or tree.

2 Get one bloom at eye level ( you might even be lying down, kneeling or even better sit in a chair. Tripod, too, if you have one)

3 Use your 200mm lens, back away from the subject, but zoom in as far as possible and get a good focus.

Using aperture priority take the image using f/16 then another using f/5.6. Try other combos of high and low aperture numbers.
Compare the backgrounds. You should find the blurred backgrounds with the wider aperture settings (lower numbers).

You can put the flowers in a vase on a table indoors with side light from a window and try it.

Here is another technique I am just learning. Panning. For example follow a moving bike with your camera and take the picture with the camera in motion trying to focus in on the biker (or any moving subject). The background should be blurred, the hard part is getting a good sharp focus on the subject. Use a slow shutter speed. Too fast and you stop the motion completely.


Here is an example of why to use a long lens and zoom in to get less background and , therefore less to blur:

Stand 5 or 6 feet away from a salt shaker or some object on your kitchen table.

Look at it through a toilet roll tube, then look at it through a longer paper towel tube.

Note how much background or to the sides you see. You will see a lot more with the shorter tube than you will with the longer. Your eye is he camera, the tube the lens.

Thanks for the great examples!! I will do that once we go outside!! I just got all my new backdrops, lighting kit, and stand together today and I took some pics of my son. I will post those later but he put his sippy cup on the stool and I tried what you told me and was able to effectively get what you were saying