Object in focus with a blurry background

[fishworks]

Hi Guy's,
I'm very new to this site and I have just got myself a Canon 450D camera with a 18 -55mm lens.I am new to the photography scene that is why i have joined this forum.I want to get a photo of the object in focus with a blurry background.Like for a example if i was riding my bike along the bike path and a mate took a photo i want me riding my bike in focus and very sharp but want whatever the background is to be really blurry.So how would i manage to do this? What camera settings etc.I will be going to get myself a polarized filter tomorrow as i will be taking alot of fishing related photo's aswell as cycling.All feedback would be really helpful i will post a few of my first photo's up tomorrow.

Cheers Brad

[Mr Darcy]

Hi Brad and welcome.
First off you need to put a meaningful location in your profile. This is so others can help you. If you are nervous, so were we all. So far: help 100. Axe murderers 0

As for your blurry background, the answer is in your aperture setting. Put tue camera into Aperture priority (not sure what this is called on Canon. It is A on Nikons. Then dial your aperture as wide as it can go (smallest number). This is probably 4.5 or thereabouts on your lens. The shutter speed will go way up & that's good as it will freeze motion, but we are interested in the Shallow Depth of field that a wide open lens. Now focus on your near object that you want to be in focus. WHen you take the photo the background should be blurry (OOF in techo speak). If not, you have three choices:
1. Get a faster lens. Expensive, but it is one of the reasons f1.4 lenses are made and still sell despite the cost
2. Move your subject further from the background. This will improve the chances that the background will be OOF
3. Switch to manual focus and deliberately move the focus to in front of your subject. If you do this right, the subject will still be in the sweet zone and the background will be well and truly in the OOF zone.
Even when you get it blurry, it may not look as good as some other photos you have seen. THe nature of OOF backgrounds is called "Bokeh", and is very much a factor of the lens. (Another reason expensive lenses sell well)

Still it is a great way to start out, and even poor bokeh will give you a great looking photo with the subject well separated from the background. When you have tried a few photos post them up here & I am sure you will get spme helpful and very useful specific advice. Unless of course you nail it first time. Inj which case you will get pats on the back.

HTH

[Mr Darcy]

Oh and another thing. You will get narrower depth of field if you stay near the long end (55mm) of your zoom range.

[fishworks]

Thanks Mr Darcy,
I'm from Melbourne Will give it a good test tomorrow still have a little bit of reading to do of the owner's manual before its playtime.I will be around in Melbourne city tomorrow so i will take the camera and get some photo's as the world goes by and might just stop in at the botanical gardens for a few landscape photo's just for some practice.

Cheers Brad

[gstark]

Hi Brad and welcome.

First off you need to put a meaningful location in your profile. This is so others can help you. If you are nervous, so were we all. So far: help 100. Axe murderers 0

If there were any axes to murder, I'd the first one there, btw.

(not sure what this is called on Canon. It is A on Nikons.

AV on Canon.

1. Get a faster lens. Expensive, but it is one of the reasons f1.4 lenses are made and still sell despite the cost

Actually, the 50mm f/1.8 lens is quite inexpensive. May be worth looking into, and it will most certainly be able to help you to understand this, as well as to get the type of image that you're after.

[gstark]

I'm from Melbourne

No worries, but please read the "Forum Rules" (section in pink at the top of this page) and the FAQ. This will give you a better idea of what Greg was referring to.

[Mr Darcy]

If there were any axes to murder, I'd the first one there, btw.

I thought you ground them Gary, not murdered them

I'm from Melbourne

A canonite AND a Mexican. Oh Dear. Still both are solvable

[fishworks]

Here is my very first photo i took using my new camera.

[Geoff]

Hi Fishworks, welcome to the forum.
Gary and Darcy have given you some sound information on OOF backgrounds, bokeh and apertures. My piece of advice would be spend as much as you can afford on good quality glass (lenses) too!
That's a great first image. I could try and look at the EXIF data (that is the info that tells us a bit about your photo) but it'd good practice for you to tell us. So, what I'd like you to do is tell us these few things:

1. The shutter speed.
2. The Aperture (F stop, i.e 4.5, 5.6 etc etc etc).
3. The ISO

4. What mode you took the shot in, i.e Av, Manual, program mode, or automatic. (I'm not familiar with the Canon specifics but I think/hope you get what I'm asking. For a bonus point, what was the white balance (WB) set to on this shot?

It's a great looking dog, how far where you from him/her when you shot it? Did you use a flash at all? His/her head is clearly the focal point which is great, but I think it could be a tad sharper. Sharpness can (and should be attempted) first and foremost when you're taking the shot (in camera). Post production sharpness (in programs such as photoshop) can also help afterwards if you haven't nailed it as best as you wanted/could have.

Anyway, there's a few questions for you (homework if you like) to mull over. You will find this forum a great source of information, motivation and sometimes amusement. What you put in is what you will get out generally. Feel free to ask questions and comment on other people's pics too. It's what makes the forum tick!

I look forward to your response

Geoff.

[losfp]

Very simple really, what you want is shallow depth of field.

As I understand it, this is influenced by a combination of 3 things.

1) Wide apertures have shallower depth of field
2) the closer the object you are focusing on, the shallower the depth of field
3) Longer focal length results in shallower depth of field.

To maximise this effect, you would want the following conditions.

1) use a long focal length
2) use a wide aperture (smaller f/number)
3) the object you are focusing on is close
4) the background is far away

[ATJ]

1) use a long focal length
2) use a wide aperture (smaller f/number)
3) the object you are focusing on is close
4) the background is far away

Brad,

Use this valuable information and experiment. Go into your backyard (or the park or somewhere you can practice) and try different things.

1) You have a zoom lens, so take some shots at both ends of the zoom range and see the difference you get with the background focus.

2) Set the camera up with a certain subject and background and take a range of shots at different f/stops. See how the background changes.

3) Take some shots close to and far away from the subject and see the difference. You may also want to combine this with 1). Set up a subject put the zoom lens to wide angle and move close so that the subject takes up 1.2 the frame. Take a shot. Now go to telephoto on the zoom and move back so you fill the frame about the same amount and take a photo. See how the background changes.

4) Take a shot with the subject close to the background. Take another with it further away. See the difference.

By experimenting not only will you better understand how these factors change things, you will learn where the various sweet spots are.

I also assume your camera has a depth of field preview. This is a button that will show you in the viewfinder how the depth of field will actually look when you take the photo. Practice using this, too.

[muzz]

Hi fishworks, and welcome. Is this the kind of shot you are looking for? You can see the some EXIF data if you hold the mouse over the image - I' ll reproduce it here anyway:

Canon5D2/EF17-40L@40 | 1/10s | f8 | ISO200

While the camera and lens are different, the focal length of 40mm, the shutter speed of 1/10s and aperture of f8 and ISO200 are all settings you can reproduce on you camera. The really hard part will be the panning, so start practising!!

Have fun.

[fishworks]

Thanks for all the tips.
Will post some photo's up tomorrow sometime once i have taken a few different photos.
I still have not got to play with the camera as much as i would of liked to but tomorrow will be a full learning day and will take plenty of photo's.

Cheers Brad

[fishworks]

Managed to get out this evening to take a few first photo's hope you enjoy.Any feed back would be great.

Cheers Brad