Help with Bokeh photos

[raptorbandito]

Hi All,

I'm still very new to digital photography, and I've been trying to do lots of research and wrap my head around several interesting concepts. One that I find particularly appealing is shallow DOF Bokeh photos. Unfortunately I've been having some issues with getting my background as blurry and out of focus as I would like. I'm not sure if this is due to something I'm doing wrong with the positioning of the subject I'm shooting, or perhaps it has to do with my digital camera.

As I understand it with a shallow DOF where the subject a good distance away from the background, you should be able to blur the background to a very soft out of focus image. I'm currently using a point and shoot Canon PowerShot S3 IS, and just can't get the background even close to as soft as i've seen in other bokeh photos. I'm wondering if this is simply a limitation of the camera I'm using? I've been using the AV mode on this camera, but even in manual you are only able to adjust the aperture between F2.7 and F8.0.

So is this just a limitation of my point and shoot camera, or is there something I may be doing wrong. Any information you can provide would be most appreciated!

[rediguana]

It is partly a limitation of the camera and lenses you are using. To get the soft bokeh straight out of camera, you really need a DSLR with large aperture lenses. You should be able to get some bokeh on your camera by ensuring that you use the max zoom, get as close to your subject as the zoom allows, and have as much distance as possible between your subject and background. If you have a portrait or macro mode in the camera, this may also help achieve the bokeh effect.

[inkista]

Your biggest limitation isn't your max. aperture (although that's also a limiting factor), it's your sensor size. The larger the image plane, the shallower the DoF you can achieve at the same aperture setting.

You're using a 1/2.3" (I think. Maybe 1/2.5") sensor. It's roughly one sixth the size of an APS-C sensor in a dSLR. So, at f/4, your camera has six times the DoF as the dSLR at f/4. This is actually a feature with a P&S camera, because it means that getting something out of focus is really hard, but it does make it hard to get that blurred background look.

The amount of out-of-focus blur you can get is determined by:

a) sensor size (the bigger, the more oof blur)
b) aperture (the bigger [smaller f-number], the more oof blur)
c) subject distance (the closer you are to the subject, the more oof blur)
d) subject-to-background distance (the farther the subject is from the background, the more oof blur)
e) focal length (the longer the focal length/zoomed in, the more oof blur)

So, zooming in, shooting macro, or moving your subject closer to you and farther from the background can all help you get more oof blur.

[raptorbandito]

Thank you for the information and suggestions. They are most helpful!