Stupid Question from Noob

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steelcity65

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I am new to digital photography one of the things i am intrested in trying to achieve is the effect in pictures where the subject is in focus and the background is blurred.
I have just purchased a Sony a300 when reading the intstuctions it says that through selecting portrait mode this effect can be achieved i tried last night but could not achieve the effect.
I seem to recall years ago that you needed a seperate filter to achieve this.
Is this the case and can this effect be achieved in auto mode innitialy while i am still learning.
Thanks Craig
 
Sounds like you want to get a shallow depth of field, keeping your subject in focus and bluring the background. Depth of field varies with how open the lens is, the lower the f-stop you use the shallower the DOF, try taking a photo with the camera in apature priority and droping the apature right down, the camera will select a faster shutter speed to compensate and you will find the DOF is shallower for that shot, experiment and see how this looks :)

I bought a cheap prime with f1.8 and the DOF you can achieve with the lens wide open is amazingly shallow, for example you can take a picture of a remote control and only have one row of buttons in focus those in front and behind will be blurred :)

Hope that helps a bit, someone will be along to explain better plus there is a section in the tutorials on this.

MB
 
You dont need a filter. All you need is a wide appature. Set the camera to AV mode and then dial the lowest appature number (f stop) you can. This will depend on the lens but if you have the kit lens I imagine it will be something like 4 or 5.6.

Next you need to check your focus points to make sure the subject you are photographing is the object the camera uses to focus.

Finally don't stand the person too close to the background. The further away they are from it the better. And the closer you are to the person also helps.

Give it a try.

Unfortunately it is unlikely you will get what you want in auto because the camera is pretty much guessing what you want - and they ain't that smart :-)
 
Hi Craig

Not knowing anything about your camera, I looked online and found this bit

Exposure Modes - Program, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, Picture Modes

What you're after is actually controlled by the aperture setting, as this controls how much will be in sharp focus. So, find the Mode 'Aperture Priority' and set your aperture to its widest setting (f3.5 I believe), and let the camera sort out the rest

If you then focus on someone, say 5ft away, you should find the background is out of focus (providing it's not right behind them!)

Go try it and report back

HTH

DD
 
Oh the other thing I should say - if you are learning - using auto isn't going to help you. You need to learn to control the camera rather than the other way around.
 
Oh and one more thing :-)

It was not a stupid question. Asking questions is how you learn and grasping depth of field and f numbers is one of the first things you need to do - and one of the most confusing if you're new to it.

Until two months ago DD though f stop was what happens when you spill coffee on your keyboard and it F stops working :-)
 
AndyB said:
Oh and one more thing :-)

It was not a stupid question. Asking questions is how you learn and grasping depth of field and f numbers is one of the first things you need to do - and one of the most confusing if you're new to it.

Until two months ago DD though f stop was what happens when you spill coffee on your keyboard and it F stops working :-)
Click to expand...

Give me some credit m8 - it was 4 months !!! :razz:

Cheeky sod

:lol:

DD
 
Thankyou all for your replies and advice i must say i am amazed at how friendly and helpful people are on this forum. I will have a play this evening may even try to post a pic for comments and advice if not to emmbarrasing.The lenses i bought with the camera are a sony 18-70 and a Tamron 70-300 F4/5.6 Di Ld macro. I assume i would be better of using the 18/70 for the desired effect ?
Thanks again Craig
 
We're only friendly and helpful cos you're new. Once you settle in you'll get it the same as the rest :-)
 
steelcity65 said:
I assume i would be better of using the 18/70 for the desired effect ?
Thanks again Craig
Click to expand...

AndyB will bite in your next post - he's a swine for lulling people into a false sense of security :lol:

What you're after is a function of having what's known as a shallow depth of field, and as more powerful lenses have a shallower depth of field at any given aperture, then your last comment is incorrect

The more powerful lens will give you the effect easier

DD
 
He doesn't mean powerful in that the lens can fly or has x-ray vision of course - although some do have super strength.
 
A Stop is the measure of light reaching the sensor in a way. Apperture is a part of that but you need also to consider shutter speed and ISO settings. Openning your eyes wider is an urban myth though and doesn't help ;-)
 
Go and buy/ borrow from library a book titled "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson.

It will help.

welcome:)
 
Thankyou all for your advice and pointers i shall try to master this over the next cople of days.
Craig
 
steelcity65 said:
Thankyou all for your advice and pointers i shall try to master this over the next cople of days.
Craig
Click to expand...

Believe me you will be able to do it (if not master it) in moments and you will be amazed by the results :thumbs:. Its the one thing which I was amazed at when I moved from a compact to a bridge camera, the ability to set to Av and let the camera work out the shutter spped make it a delight to do too. Try the lens on the lowest f-stop, the highest f-stop and the middle one and compare. I'd use a subject which will show the change well such as a remote then you can see how the DOF changes with a point of reference :)

MB
 
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