For those of you with SLRs, this post is totally for you. For those of you that use your cameras often and want to do a little more with them, this post is so for you. Then for those of you that have always wondered how to ‘make the background blurry’ in your photos, this post is precisely for you.
This little ‘blurry background’ trick we photographers play is known as the depth of field in an image. When the entire image is sharp/in focus, it is a large depth of field. When the subject is sharp/in focus and the foreground and/or background are blurry, it is a small depth of field.
Many elements factor into the depth of field of an image, such as the lens opening, focal length, subject matter, movement, and camera-to-subject distance.
Did I lose you?
The quickest tactic to do this, in lamens terms, is to make the Aperture number smaller. That’s the number that’s 5.6 or 11 or 22. Whatever your camera or lens allows, set that number to the lowest possible, likely 5.6, 4 or even 2.8. This will give you a small depth of field, making only the desired subject sharp and the rest of the image blurry.
Make sense? Feel free to email me if you have questions.
