Bokeh is the out of focus area in an image. You’ve probably noticed that a bunch of my photos have a blurry background. That’s the bokeh (or better yet, bokeh is the aesthetic quality of the blur… )
Getting that blur without using a DSLR is a challenge. Long story short, you have to use a particular lens (with a wide aperture) to achieve those results. Or you need to be far away with a telephoto or macro lens.
Anyway, I was helping my sis buy a camera when I was in TX. She ended up buying this one. It’s a great camera w/ a lot of capabilities. One of the things she wanted me to teach her was how to get “blurry backgrounds” in her shots. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be. There are four things you must do…
1) Set your aperture to the smallest number (widest aperture = smallest number) that your camera can go to. Hers can go to f/2.8 so I switched it to manual mode (you could also use aperture mode) and brought it down to f/2.8
2) Pull your subject away from the background. Get them as far away as you can.
3) Zoom all the way in on your subject. Now, you might have to walk back A LOT to get their whole face/body in the shot. (It’s much easier with a tiny subject like the dragonfly below).
4) Hold your breathe and/or stable yourself on something (the ground/door/wall/chair, etc.), because when zoomed in you will experience a ton of camera shake. Her camera has a 26x optical zoom so it moved a lot when zoomed in. I could barely control the thing.
Here are three shots all taken at lowest aperture possible, zoomed all the way in, using my sisters point & shoot. The last shot would have been even blurrier if I had moved Portia further away from the background.
Hope this helps someone!
Thank you for all your tips about cameras. My current point and shoot had been greatly disappointing me since our son was born and a moving target was so much harder to photograph than all the scenery (or adults who could sit still) I usually photographed before. Your tips have helped me change some settings that are taming me on my urge to throw it out the window…at least until I can save up for the DSLRs I’ve been researching for a year or so!
This is really helpful! I love the bokeh look, I have a point and shoot, and I’ve been totally and completely lazy about reading up on how to use the manual settings…Excellent!
Also, the word verification I have to type in to submit this comment is “mantert” and I think it might be my new favorite made up word.
Hi, i just found your blog and you a very talented photographer and I enjoy your tips, even though I am using a point and shoot. Maybe one day I will learn to use and purchase a really good camera. Anyway, my name’s Amy, I don’t have a blog but i’m on FB. facebook.com/amypeterson09
I just bought the same camera your sister did, thanks for the info!