How to Create a Blurred Background in Outdoor Portraits

You've taken hundreds of outdoor portraits, but your pictures lack one element that professional photographs have: a soft, blurred background that draws attention to your subject. Shooting with a shallow depth of field creates this affect. Photographers use specific aperture and shutter speed settings to achieve this. Read on to learn how this is done without sacrificing correct exposure.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A digital SLR camera with manual aperture and shutter speed settings
• Basic knowledge of shutter speed and aperture, and how the two work together to create correct exposure
• Your owner's manual if you aren't familiar with how to change your camera's manual mode settings
• A friend, family member or other subject to photograph
• An aesthetic background, like flowers, a tree or a downtown setting

How to create shallow depth of field

1. Frame your subject through the lens. Be sure to place her in the desired position in relation to the background setting you've chosen.

2. Locate the aperture and shutter speed dials/wheels on your digital SLR camera. Change to the manual shooting mode, if you haven't already. Refer to your camera's manual if you don't know how to perform this step.

3. Set your aperture and shutter speed to create shallow depth of field. This means that the background will be somewhat blurred, and the person you're photographing will be in sharp focus. Some acceptable combinations that will create correct exposure are: shutter speed 1/4000 and aperture f/2, shutter speed 1/2000 and aperture f/2.8 or shutter speed 1/1000 and aperture f/4.

4. Again, frame your subject through the lens. Whether you're relying on manual focus or the camera's auto-focus function, make certain that your subject is clear.

5. Press the shutter release button to snap the picture. When you review your photo, the depth of field should be shallow, meaning the background is slightly blurred and your subject is in sharp focus. Experiment with the suggested shutter speed and aperture settings to see the differences in each resulting portrait.

Tips & Warnings

• Pay close attention to lighting. If you're shooting on an overcast day, a smaller aperture setting (a wider open lens) with a slightly slower shutter speed will allow more light into the camera, resulting in a brighter picture. On a bright, sunny day, you might need a faster shutter speed and larger aperture setting (less wide open lens) so that the photo is not overexposed.
• Consider adjusting your ISO setting if lighting is challenging. A lower ISO number will make a darker picture, while a higher ISO number will create a brighter picture.

[agilityman]

on 7/6/2009 I already knew this. But for someone that has always used a "point and shoot" and is just learning about f-stops and aperture settings, this is a superb article. It's exactly what an e-how article should be: clear, focused, detailed, step by step.