Need tips in shallow DOF photo

[Essaarcee]

Hi,
I am a newbie in DSLR world, purchased a canon 60D and had been trying out few things.
I like the pics with shallow depth of field. After referring multiple things over internet, i now know 3 factors affect it: aperture, focal length and distance.

I was trying to change the aperture with my 18-200mm lens with the subject around 1-3ft far..but still not able to get the blur background which i was hoping. the least aperture is 3.5 in that lens.

How can i take those kind of shallow depth of potraits with this lens? Tried changing the focal length and also moved close etc to subject..still could not achieve what i'd have liked to.
Please advice.

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[IABoomer]

The other thing you need to take into account is how far the subject is from the background. If you're shooting where the subject is fairly close to the background object, you won't get as much blur as if the subject was farther away.

Also keep in mind that your 18-200 lens is most likely variable aperture, so while it's capable of f/3.5 at 18mm, it's probably f/5.6 at 200mm.

Ideally, you'll want a combination of:

- wide aperture (small f/stop number)
- long zoom (compresses the background better)
- close subject (to minimize the depth of field)
- distant background (to maximize background blur)

[valiant]

Originally Posted by Essaarcee

I was trying to change the aperture with my 18-200mm lens with the subject around 1-3ft far..but still not able to get the blur background which i was hoping. the least aperture is 3.5 in that lens.

How can i take those kind of shallow depth of potraits with this lens? Tried changing the focal length and also moved close etc to subject..still could not achieve what i'd have liked to.
Please advice.

Moderators: if this is not the correct forum, plz move to appropraite one

1. set your focal length at 200mm
2. set your aperture wide open (f/5.6)
3. positioned your subject far away from your background
4. positioned yourself as close as you can to the subject

[ElCapitanoAwesomo]

unless you want a tight headshot, i'd refrain from the full zoom. set you camera to its minimum aperture at 18mm, then zoom until you get to aperture 4. thats typically a good focal length or portraits, and it gives you a nice, wide aperture. also note, as previoously stated, the distance of the model from the background. if you have a particularly busy background, have them closer to you, and farther from the background. if you're within a few feet to the subject, and the background is distant, you should be able to achieve a photo with some delicious bokeh!

[RichardTaylor]

@ElCapitanoAwesomo

If you set your camera to minimum aperture (like F22) you will get maximum DOF.
Essaarcee us looking for shallow DOF.. I would suggest shooting at maximum aperture, somewhere between 3.5-5.6 depending on the focal length, for minimum DOF.

[cyber3d]

Post an example photo and take the data about the image from Digital Photo Professional and post it along with the photo. That might show where you are going wrong.

[Ped]

This may sound a wee bit silly, BUT! Make sure you focus on the subject. If using autofocus, centre on the subject and half press the shutter release to focus, then whilst retaining pressure on the shutter release move the camera to frame the photo. This will prevent the camera from refocusing on some mid-point. Wide aperture (low number) = shallow depth of field.

[kathieabilenedarling]

Originally Posted by cyber3d

Post an example photo and take the data about the image from Digital Photo Professional and post it along with the photo. That might show where you are going wrong.

Where is false,,
IMG]http://freeimagestock4you.com/img/C/Bz.jpg[/IMG]

[scootermcq]

Here is an example taken with an 18-200 lens:



Camera Nikon D300
Exposure 0.002 sec (1/640)
Aperture f/5.6
Focal Length 150 mm
ISO Speed 200
Subject Distance 2.24 m

As you can see, I was only 7 feet or so from the subject, and there is a huge gap from the subject to the background behind it.

Bottom line....

Largest aperture you can use.
As zoomed as far as can
Be as close to the subject as you can
Have as much distance between the subject and background as you can.

[Rentham]

Originally Posted by ElCapitanoAwesomo

set you camera to its minimum aperture at 18mm, then zoom until you get to aperture 4. thats typically a good focal length or portraits, and it gives you a nice, wide aperture.

If he's trying to minimize depth of field, why would he shoot at the widest possible range of his lens? All other things being equal, a longer focal length will have less depth of field than a shorter focal length.