Tips and Tricks - Blurry Background...

A blurry background is an amazing technique that does just what the title says - Blurs the background. One key benefit is that it eliminates a background that might otherwise be overly busy and distracting to the main subject - usually a person or persons. In other words the subject pops out as the center of attention. But how is it done? First you need a camera that can function in a "Manual" mode, that is, not set for automatic operation. The setting to adjust is the aperture. The lower the aperture the more blurry the background can be. Aperture for example might be as low as 1.4 maybe 1.8 and goes up to 18 or more. These are also called "F" stops. A large aperture has a large depth of field, that is, things both near and distant will be in focus. This is great for landscapes or any image requiring good focus close and far. A lower aperture has a very tight and small area of focus. At a very low aperture say 1.4 its possible for the nose to be in focus and not the eyes or ears or visa versa. Another setting you might try would be "Aperture Priority" mode. This will allow you to manually set the aperture while the camera automatically handles the other setting. See your manual for details. Here are a few samples using blurred backgrounds. And please, email me at allan@dsphotogroup.com should you have any questions.

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Headshots in Scottsdale

Allan Petersen

Uncle - Entrepreneur - Photographer

7900 East Greenway Road, Suite 206

Scottsdale, Az 85260

602.619.9366

allan@dsphotogroup.com

www.headshotsinscottsdale.com