Home >> Hobbies >> Photography

How to Blur the Background in an Outdoor Portrait

In outdoor portraits, pleasing earthy colors pervade. Backgrounds that flourish with rich greens, browns, blues and yellows serve to complement any skin tone. However, keeping the entire shot in sharp focus places just as much attention on the colorful background as the central human subject. With help from a fast lens (maximum opening of f/2 or wider) and a high shutter speed, you can blur the background while keeping your model precisely focused.

Things You'll Need

Normal or telephoto lens (50-130mm focal length)

Instructions

- 1
  Move your camera's mode dial to aperture-priority mode, usually labeled as "A" or "Av" on most cameras. This lets you select the size of the lens opening while the camera chooses the appropriate shutter speed for proper exposure.
- 2
  Set your lens to its widest maximum aperture (lens opening). At this setting, depth of field (range of effective focus) is very shallow. This means that your point of focus will be sharply defined while anything in front of or behind it will be completely blurred.
- 3
  Look through your viewfinder and compose the shot.
- 4
  Focus on your subject by rotating your lens' focus ring. If your autofocus is turned on, it may be helpful to turn it off before focusing. This allows you greater control over which of your subject's facial features will be sharply focused, which is especially helpful for close portraits.
- 5
  Take several shots and check the results in your LCD preview screen. If the depth of field is too shallow, stop-down your lens to f/3.5, f/4 or f/5.6. If you are using film, take several shots from each of these apertures for guaranteed results.

Photography