Cant get dof to work

[cdgaskin]

Im using a s6000fd with fixed 55mm to 300mm lens and when shooting in apperture priority at f2.8 (max on this model) the whole thing is in focus instead of just the main item of my photograph. (Im a newbie as youve guessed) ive checked other threads and as far as i can tell it should work.

Any advice would be greatfully received.

[Skoropada]

cdgaskin,

The distance from your subject to the background is important if what you want to do is a blurred background.

Try separating your subject from the background and shoot again.

Also the selected focal length (by the info you gave it's a zoom lens) plays it's role there. Shorter focal lenghts have a deeper DoF and longer focal lenghts have a narrower DoF.

[fletch]

Using a P&S it will be very difficult to get the blury background affect due to the small sensor size. You can do it but only in extreem circumstances. Try the fllowing steps

Use the max focal lenght
Get as close to your subject as possible
Put as much distance as possible between your self and your subject
Select the largest aperture possible
If your camera has it test out macro mode.

IMO this is the bigest limitation of "Bridge" cameras.

[FromtheBackofaHorse]

Fletch, you have me confused with this...

Get as close to your subject as possible
Put as much distance as possible between your self and your subject

[private]

Well, say your background is a shrub - have the subject stand a few feet away from the shrub and then you walk closer to the subject - and you will get some great DoF - I tried it with my sons P&S and I did get some nice Bokeh, BUT when I did it with the Xti - it was amazing - and that's b/c of the size of the sensor...

Did that help?

[cdgaskin]

Thank you, Ill give it a try,


the anoying thing is this is the main thing i wanted to do with portraits,

if i cant get it to work ill have to look up pp tutorials to add it later which is a shame cos it never looks as good.

[kencaleno]

Because of the sensor size,your F2.8 maximum aperture is equal to A Dslr's F8( the reason for this is to do with getting enough light through the lens to form an image on the sensor,so say the actual focal length of the lens is 7mm ie: Dslr equivalent of 35mm, F8 = focal length of lens divided by 8- resulting in an aperture of less than one millimetre!!!(that's why F8 is your smallest aperture-any smaller,there would not be enough light getting in to make an image) so the only thing you can do for portraits with bokeh (Blurred backgrounds), is to use full extent of your lense's zoom, F 2.8 and stand further away from your subject, regards, Ken

[Jim Poor]

I believe it should have read "put as much distance between your subject and background . . ."

Originally Posted by FromtheBackofaHorse

Fletch, you have me confused with this...

Get as close to your subject as possible
Put as much distance as possible between your self and your subject

[Rossi42080]

I took this as physically stand further away from your subject, but use a lense in which you can get nice and close. Not possitive, but this was my first impression.

[private]

it also depends on the size of your sensor - please no jokes...