Newbie help

[Ladyblackswan]

Hi Folks,
My name is Jennifer and I am a brand new. I have gotten some very helpful feedback from a few photos I posted in the critique section and tried playing with my camera today some. I discovered that I have a black and white setting, which is great, but I didn't have much luck getting my background to blur out to matter what I did. I realize this is a stupid question, but I can't figure out how to do it at all. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Jim Bryant]

Don't worry about post processing in the camera, do it in photoshop or whatever post processing program you use. Don't let your camera think for you! If so, you've never learn what your gear can and can't do.

[Biomech]

Just to follow on from what Jim said, think of it this way, if you shoot in black and white, your photos will be black and white forever. If you shoot in colour, you can change them to black and white if you want afterwards.

The simple answer to get your backgrounds blurry or "defocused" is to chose a wide aperture (low F number), if you zoom in as well, it will work even better. So put your camera into A or Av mode on the dial, set the aperture to the lowest F number it will take - probably f/3.5 at a guess. And fire away

[SusanH1970]

Hi Jennifer, welcome to DPS!

Agreed with Jim that it's better to do your own BW conversions in post rather than let the camera do them. In-camera conversions are usually quite flat.

What lens are you using? As the previous poster mentioned, using the widest aperture you can is the key to getting a shallow depth of field.

See here for great beginner tips (including aperture): Digital Photography Tips and Tutorials

And here: Online Depth of Field Calculator

[Ladyblackswan]

I hadn't considered that the black and white option would be limiting.....I can see now why it would be better to shoot in color and edit it later! I am going to try taking some with the low setting tomorrow, hopefully that will make my background less busy. Thank you for the tips and also for the websites. Now all I need to do is learn how to change my settings without blowing up my camera

[JFSanders]

Now all I need to do is learn how to change my settings without blowing up my camera

Have no fear of your tools. If they break during use (not abuse) then it was meant to be. What kind of camera is it that you are trying to learn? It will help us help you if we know what is in your tool box.

As was said previously open your aperture and zoom out this will create a very shallow DOF or plane of focus if you will. Also, getting very close to your subject will shorten your DOF as well. Make a few photographs and then display them on your computer at 100% size and you can see the plane of focus/DOF very easily.

Don't worry play hard and have fun.

Jim

[mshockley]

Originally Posted by JFSanders

What camera are you using? It will help us help you if we know what is in your tool box.

As was said previously open your aperture and zoom out this will create a very shallow DOF or plane of focus if you will. Also, getting very close to your subject will shorten your DOF as well. Make a few photographs and then display them on your computer at 100% size and you can see the plane of focus/DOF very easily.

This is exactly what I was thinking. If we know what camera you have, and even more so, what lens your using we could help even more. But Jim is spot on with the advice to open your lens up (set a very low f number) and if you have a kit lens--say an 18-55mm, step back and zoom in on your subject--both will help blur out your background.

[Ladyblackswan]

I'm embarrassed to say that I am actually using a fancy point and shoot...it's a Kodak retinar. One of the issues I am having is getting my foreground to come into focus at the lower F stop because the camera attempts to correct itself when I zoom in. I did get a nice very early morning sunrise photo this morning using an f8 to compensate for the high lighting and the colors came out really nice instead of all hazy like the other early morning shots I've taken. Here's that photo and the settings I used....

Resolution: 1024 x 768

Flash Used: No (auto)

Focal Length: 50.6mm (35mm equivalent: 286m...

Exposure Time: 0.0020 s (1/500)

Aperture: f/8.0

ISO Equiv.: 100

Whitebalance: Auto

Metering Mode: matrix

Exposure: aperture priority (semi-auto)

Exposure Mode: Auto bracketing

I'm not sure if it was ok to post this here, if it is not, please let me know

[Biomech]

Try pointing at the foreground, half press the button till it focus beeps, then, keeping your finger half way down, move the camera around until you get the shot you want.

If the focus changes, check through the menu for the focus mode (if it has one), and if it's set to "continuous" change it to something else (usually single shot)

[Ladyblackswan]

I do have the option to set it to "single" focus, and I'm going to go and try it right now!