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Photography Basics on How to Get a Blurry Background

You can create a blurry background in post production, but it is better to create the effect in camera at the time of the shoot. This simple but effective technique is often used in portrait photography where you want to direct the viewer's eye to the subject in the picture. There are a few different factors that go into creating a picture to get a blurry background.

Things You'll Need

50mm focal length or longer lens

Instructions

- 1
  Select the right lens for the shoot. All lenses have certain characteristics, and the longer the focal length, the easier it is to obtain a blurry background. Wide angle lenses still have a slightly blurry background but in no comparison to a telephoto lens.
- 2
  Select a "fast" lens, identified by the widest aperture available. A wide aperture lets a lot of light into the camera, resulting in using a faster shutter speed. A lens with a wider aperture also has a shallow depth of field. This shallow depth of field is the main contributor to creating a picture with a blurry background. A 50mm lens that has a maximum aperture of f1.2 will have a shallower depth of field than a 50mm lens that has a maximum aperture of f1.8.
- 3
  Avoid focusing to the infinity position. On manual focus lenses, you will see the infinity logo, a symbol that looks like the number "8" on its side, at the far end of its focusing range. At this position, the lens is focused on the farthest point with the entire background in focus. It is better to put the subject close to you and focus within the first 30 percent of the focusing range of the lens, then the background will be out of focus.

Photography