pictures with blurred background

[mishababy]

Ok I have been searching online on how to do this and Im at a loss. I just cant figure it out. I need photography for dummies. I am using a fuji finepix s1800 and dont really know how to use it. any help would be nice.
thanks in advance.

[Jim Bryant]

Just order a magic lantern guide for the camera.

[scootermcq]

With the small sensor in P&S cameras, you will get very little bokeh (blurred background) That is why full frame gets better bokeh vs a 1.5 or 1.6 crop factor dslr. You can only really get a blurred background on that camera by adding it is post production. You will get very little blurring SOC

[nokiN]

What you want is called a shallow depth-of-field (DOF).

The physical size and backspacing of the image sensor in your camera makes getting shallow DOF difficult.
DOF is also a function of the focal length of the lens, the subject to image sensor distance, the subject to background distance, and the lens aperture.

Thre are DOF calculators online, like Online Depth of Field Calculator.

Bokeh and DOF are not interchangable terms.

DOF is a quantifiable effect, while bokeh is a qualitative and very subjective effect.

Bokeh is a subjective evaluation of the visual quality of a blurred background and is a function of how a lens is constructed.

The number and shape of the lens aperture blades has a big influence on the quality of the bokeh a lens can produce.

There are 2 types of bokeh: the very smooth and homogenous 'cream cheese' bokeh, and the very round 'Hollywood' type of bokeh.

A lens that is commonly acknowledged as having very pleasing 'cream cheese' bokeh is Nikons - AF NIKKOR 85mm f/1.4D IF . The lens has been nicknamed "The Cream Machine"

An example of a lens type that has jarring, unpleasant donut shaped bokeh, is mirror lenses.

[elle s'ennuie]

You can probably get decent bokeh in Macro mode, but of course that's no use if you want background blurring in portraits etc. One way to get a blurrier background that works for me on my superzoom p&s is to set the camera to its widest possible aperture and zoom into the subject while making sure the background is a good distance away from the subject, not immediately behind it.