How to make the background blurry when shooting with a DSLR

Background blur is also known as background blur. The three elements of the Shooting Bokeh Effect** are:

1. The longer the actual focal length of the lens (not the equivalent focal length), the better. Therefore, even if the equivalent focal length of some small telephoto cameras reaches 300mm, the actual focal length is only less than 60mm, and it is not easy to shoot background blur**.

2. The larger the aperture of the lens, the better.

3. The ratio of the subject distance to the foreground distance (when the foreground blur is required) or the ratio of the background distance to the subject distance (when the background blur is required), the better. (Note: "Distance" here refers to the distance to the focal plane of the camera.) ）

If these three conditions are met at the same time, you can shoot the background bokeh.

Fig. 1, Olympus stylus-1 small telephoto camera, the actual focal length is 64mm (not long), the aperture f is large enough), the foreground distance is super close, the subject distance is far away (the subject foreground distance ratio is very large), and the foreground is soft and bokeh.

Fig. 2, full-frame camera, 28-300mm zoom lens 300mm shooting, aperture only f is the maximum aperture at the telephoto end), the ratio of background to subject distance is large, and the background bokeh effect is soft.

Fig. 3, Nikon D90 camera, 18-200 zoom lens at the 200mm end, the background to the subject distance ratio is large, because the aperture is only f 10, the background blur is not very good (the author mainly wants to show the backlit dew on the blades of grass, deliberately retaining some shadows of the blades of grass).

The background blur of the SLR camera is a problem of controlling the depth of field, the depth of field is related to three factors, 1, the size of the aperture, 2, the shooting distance, 3, the focal length of the lens, the larger the aperture, the smaller the shooting distance, the larger the focal length, the smaller the depth of field, that is, the better the bokeh, so try to use a large aperture for shooting, but the aperture is too large and may be out of focus, so it is generally shot in two stops smaller than the maximum aperture of the lens, and the focal length and shooting distance can be adjusted to the appropriate ratio of the picture.

1. If you want to blur the background, there are the following 4 methods:

Make the zoom magnification (focal length) as large as possible.

Keep the subject as far away from the background as possible.

Keep the lens as close as possible to the subject.

The aperture is as wide as possible while meeting the needs of the shooting, i.e. the f-number is small. Wise.

2. Aperture, lens, and distance of the subject are important factors affecting the depth of field

The larger the aperture, the smaller the depth of field, and the smaller the aperture, the greater the depth of field.

The longer the focal length of the lens, the smaller the depth of field, and vice versa.

The closer the subject, the smaller the depth of field, and the farther the subject, the greater the depth of field.

Third, the key points.

Shooting distance. Generally, the camera manual is marked with the shooting distance parameter. For example, A610 is marked as 45cm to infinity normally.

It means that if the shooting distance is less than 45cm, you may not be able to focus, and the ** shot may be false. So how far can I shoot a shallow depth of field effect under the premise of not less than 45cm? Strictly speaking, there are no quantifiable data parameters available for this distance.

Depending on your composition, the range and effect of the scenery you want to express, the length of the zoom, and even the brightness of the environment at the time of the cherry blossoms may change the distance. It can only be judged and determined by one's own proficiency and experience. All in all, after composing the picture and imagining the expression effect, you can achieve the purpose of bokeh by shooting at the nearest limit distance that can make the subject clear.

Focus. It is nothing more than the meaning of aiming the focus of the camera at the subject to be photographed. Only when the focus is aligned can we ensure that the shot is clear.

The A610 has three focus modes: AIAF (Intelligent Autofocus), **Focus, and Free Movement Focus. I think the terminology and presentation of other brands of cameras are different, but the basic principle should be the same. In my opinion, the AIAF focus mode is not suitable for shooting shallow depth of field.

Although it is sometimes possible to capture the bokeh effect, due to the arbitrariness of the focus frame, it often runs to unexpected places. As a result, when you put it on the computer to check, it is often that the subject is empty, and the background is clear. So when shooting shallow depth of field, I use ** focus mode in principle.

Both, center metering or spot metering in focus mode.

Background selection. What kind of background you choose to blur has a very important impact on the overall picture effect. Generally, the background used for bokeh is mostly dark (of course, there are also bright sides as the bokeh background).

I like to use the dark side for the backside. Because it's good to blur, the overall effect also feels good.

To take a DSLR photo with a blurred background, you need to adjust the depth of field of the camera: the subject is as far away from the background as possible, the lens is as close as possible to the subject, use a wide aperture (the f-stop value is smaller), and set the zoom magnification (focal length) to the maximum.

Aperture, lens, and object distance are important factors that affect depth of field. The lower the number (i.e. f, f 4) and the shallower the depth of field, only a small part of your image will be in focus, and the background blur will be more intense. If you have a higher number (e.g. f 8, f11), your image will have more focus and the overall image will be sharper.

This effect is called the depth of field effect. Using a DSLR camera to adjust the aperture, focal length, etc., can achieve a change in depth of field. Here are the factors that adjust the depth of field:

There are three main factors that determine depth of field:

1. Aperture When the focal length of the lens is the same and the shooting distance is the same, the smaller the aperture, the larger the range of depth of field; The larger the aperture, the smaller the range of depth of field. This is because the smaller the aperture, the thinner the beam entering the lens, the more pronounced the paraxial effect, and the smaller the angle at which the rays converge. In this way, the light that converges in front of and behind the imaging will leave a smaller spot on the imaging surface, so that the unclear scenery that is originally closer and farther away from the lens has acceptable clarity.

2. Focal length When the aperture coefficient and shooting distance are the same, the shorter the focal length of the lens, the larger the depth of field range; The longer the focal point of the lens, the smaller the depth-of-field range. This is because a lens with a short focal length has a much narrower band of focus (depth of focus) for light coming from a scene at different distances in front and behind than a lens with a longer focal length, so more flare enters the acceptable area of sharpness.

3. Object distance: When the focal length and aperture coefficient of the lens are equal, the farther the object distance, the larger the depth of field range; The closer the object distance, the smaller the depth of field range. This is because objects away from the camera can be sharply focused with very little adjustment, and the focus of the front and rear scenes is tightly focused. This allows more flare to enter the acceptable area of sharpness, so the depth of field increases.

Conversely, focusing on a scene close to the lens reduces the spot that enters the acceptable area of clarity and reduces the depth of field due to the widening of the interval between the front and rear knot focal points, i.e., the depth of focus is expanded. For this reason, the foreground depth of the lens is always less than the rear depth of field.

1. Through the principle of photography, try the aperture size, focal length range and shooting distance of all focal length lenses to determine the quality of bokeh. Bokeh is clear and wide, and the small long focal length is short for shooting, and the distance is long.

2. You can also use the wide-angle end to make background bokeh shooting: "Because the focal length of the wide-angle end is short, it is very difficult to produce bokeh in the background, and it is recommended to improve the solution for this problem, easy to blur, difficult to blur, long, macro and bad, focal length, leakage short, large, aperture, small, near, distance between the subject and the camera, far, far, distance between the subject and Beijing, near."

If the background is blurred, it may be formed by a variety of factors, that is, it is determined by factors such as the background, the subject being photographed, and the distance between the lenses. As for why the focal length is reduced to become a real scene, the reason is that "the distance between the subject and the background is too small, and the background blur cannot meet the conditions".

Category: Electronic Digital.

Problem description: My camera is Sony T5, and I've tried it many times, but I can't get the effect of highlighting the foreground and blurring the background. It has several focusing methods, I have tried them all, you can set the focus in meters, but the background is still not blurred, why?

Analysis: Beginners may be unfamiliar with the term depth of field, and there may be many people who have not heard of this concept at all. But if you can understand the concept of depth of field and apply it to your own shooting, you will be able to shoot more originally.

Let's take a look at what depth of field actually is.

To put it simply, depth of field is the range of good focus. It can decide whether to blur the background to highlight the subject or to create a clear background. We are often able to see photographing flowers, insects, etc., and the background is very blurry.

However, when taking commemorative photos or group photos, landscapes, etc., the background is generally as clear as the subject.

The easiest way to adjust the depth of field is to change the aperture size. Make the aperture wider and the depth of field will be shallower, and vice versa. Of course, the wider the aperture, the faster the shutter speed, the smaller the aperture, the slower the shutter speed.

In this way, at the same **intensity**, we can get different depths of field**.

It's not just the aperture that affects depth of field. If the shooting distance is short, the depth of field will be shallow, and if the shooting distance is long, the opposite is true, the focal length will be long (telephoto), the depth of field will become shallower, and the focal length will be short (wide angle), so it is easy to focus on the entire image when shooting with a wide-angle lens, and when using a telephoto lens, you need to be careful when shooting because the depth of field is shallow. Also, based on the point in good focus, the point that is close to it is deeper than the point that is far away.

The most common types of shots that use the concept of depth of field are pan focus and focus shifting. Zooming refers to a method of shooting in which the background is completely blurred to make the subject stand out, often with a large-aperture lens and a completely open aperture for shooting, or with a telephoto lens. The opposite method of shooting with focus shift is called pan focus, and it is often used in ** where the sense of distance and proximity is emphasized.

It's not easy to use the depth of field technique, but if you want to improve your shooting skills, it's worth practicing.

With the development of science and technology, the camera has become an indispensable equipment in our lives, it records our joys and sorrows, but sometimes the vague ** will ruin our good mood throughout the day. So how to adjust the blur of SLR photos?

1. Adjust the camera to the TV file: One of the main reasons for blurry photos is that the shutter speed is very slow, and to adjust the camera to the TV file is to set it to the shutter priority mode.

2. Set the shutter speed above 1 60: If the target is moving, then the shutter speed must not be too slow, at least above 1 60 to avoid blurry photos.

3. Use a suitable focal length: do not use some telephoto lenses, and do not use focal lengths above 50 mm.

4. ISO to automatic: the higher the ISP, the higher the shutter speed, the lower the shutter speed, the slower, if the ** is blurry, you can try to change the ISO to automatic, it can make up for the adverse effects caused by the anti-shake function.

5. Turn on the flash: In a dark environment, the SLR is easy to shoot a blurry **, you need to turn on the flash, if necessary, you need to use a forced flash, and it is best to use a tripod.

In fact, there are many reasons for blurry SLR photos, which need to master the photography skills or be familiar with the operation of the SLR camera, so as to solve the problem and shoot good-looking**.