Scrapbooks etc. - May/June 2009

elements | snapshot savvy
background blur
Follow our tips to keep your foreground in focus and blur the rest.
minimize distraction

When snapping a portrait, you can easily wipe out a distracting background by changing the depth of field, see sidebar, below, left. In the bottom photo, both my husband and our house remain in focus, making the shutter and door lines very noticeable. For the second shot I manually widened my camera’s aperture with a small f-stop to blur the house behind him. Add some distance. Leave some space between your subject and the background to make it easier to create the blur. Adjust settings. Get a similar, but less dramatic, effect with your camera’s portrait mode. —Vicki Boutin SOURCES Camera: Nikon D300. ISO: 800. Lens: 50 mm. Exposure: 1/160 (before), 1/3200 (after). Aperture: f6.3 (before), f1.4 (after). Lighting: natural.

after
before

depth of field, demystified What is it? Depth of field refers to the portions of a photograph that appear in focus. Why use it? By having some things in focus and others blurry, you can draw attention to the aspect of your photo that best tells the story. Get the look. Our examples show how to create a shallow depth of field, in which the foreground is in sharp focus but the background is blurred. In general, use a small f-stop—such as f1.4 or f1.8—or your camera’s portrait mode to blur your background.

showcase detail

These sweet baby feet were just asking to be photographed! I focused my camera’s viewfinder on them and used a wide aperture to blur the rest of the baby’s body. Create contrast. I experimented with different f-stops until I found one that diminished the sofa’s stripes and dark frame but didn’t blur the baby’s face to the point of being unrecognizable. Get close. I kept my camera low and close to the baby’s feet for a tight crop that doesn’t cut off the baby’s head. For very tiny details, try a zoom lens and wide aperture.