Sharp car photo with blurred background

[gil.batatas]

Hello all!

Bought a Canon 400D a while ago, it's a hobby I always wanted to pursue but only now I managed to plunge into to it. Already loving it but absolute newbie.

At the moment I'm experementing and getting to know the camera properly but I have one quick question:

If you want to shoot a moving object - ex a car, and having it focused but the background blurred (not motion blur/panning, just out of focus) what are the setting you're supposed to use? Do I use AI or pre-focus, and in that case what do I focus if the place where the car is going to be is empty, focus on the road spot where I intend to shoot the picture?

Sorry for the dumb questions

 

[IrishCameraGirl]

I don't know if this is right or not, but what I would do is set a really short shutter speed and play with your aperture to get the DOF exactly where you want it. It should leave the background out of focus, but still capture the moving image.

 

[Apex]

your going to want to manually focus seeing as the car is going to be moving. focus on where you expect the car to be so you can just as easily snap the car as it goes by.

unless of course there is a better way to do this, as i am new as well.

 

[lifeafter2am]

To be simple, I would put it in Av mode; set the aperture as low as you can, and take the shot. As IrishCameraGirl said, you basically want to make a shallow depth of field, which you do with a large (small number) aperture setting.

For the focus, I would probably use AI and just follow the car. Your not going to get motion blur if your shutter speed is high enough anyway, which with a lower aperture number, it should be.