How to Create a Blurry Background

Photography Tips

You can create a blurry background in your portrait photography with a very simple process.

When you are photographing people, a soft focus background can help rid your photo of any potential distractions. This effect is called a shallow depth of field.

Photo by Thomas Hawk; ISO 200, f/2.0, 1/8000-second exposure.

With a shallow depth of field, just the face or person is in focus, and the background is progressively blurry. In a longer depth of field, your subject and everything in the background is sharply in focus.

Here are the four ingredients to consider when creating a dramatically shallow depth of field:

1. Wide Aperture

One of the first lessons in manipulating exposure is that the size of your aperture controls your depth of field. The larger the opening for each shot, the smaller the amount of your photo will be in focus. Choose lower numbers, like f/2 to f/4, to get the most dramatic effect. Remember that aperture f-stop numbers work in reverse; the lower numbers represent the larger openings.

2. Distance to Your Subject

Getting close to your subject is a great composition principle anyway, but it is even more important when you want to knock out your background. If you are 10 feet from your subject, it is much easier to create a shallow depth of field than if you are 50 feet from your subject.

3. Amount of Zoom

When you zoom in, you compress the elements of your photo, so everything behind your subject becomes more dramatic. A wide angle lens might not create a shallow depth of field, but if you zoom in a telephoto lens to 100 mm to 200 mm, the results become far more dramatic.

4. Size of Your Sensor

Your sensor size will impact the final quality of your image in many ways. Making your background blurry is just one of them.

Photo by Adam Cohn; ISO 640, f/2.2, 1/640-second exposure.

Don’t try to get a shallow depth of field with a camera phone. The sensor is so tiny, you won’t see much effect. With a compact camera (point and shoot), it is possible to manipulate depth of field, but difficult. With a DSLR, you can start to see really dramatic effects because the sensor is much larger.

Blurring out your background is one of many composition techniques you can use to create great portrait photography. With four easy ingredients, you could be on your way to making outstanding pictures.

About the Author:
Lynford Morton (www.shutterbuglife.com) spends weekends at Washington, DC’s favorite locations—making new friends and sharing his love of photography with eager new photographers.