photography?

Question

How do photographers get the focal point of the picture to be really clear and then make background all blurry?

Is it in the actual photography, or the photo manipulation afterwards?

Answer 1

There are two ways of doing this. One is the use of a large aperture and the other is the use of a telephoto lens of 85mm or 90mm or 105mm. The longer the focal size of a lens, the less depth of field it is likely to yield in the image. Photographers normally accomplish this as the image is taken; it is rarely done afterward.

Here's a very brief video clip that explains it nicely:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzedefUXARE&NR

Good luck and best wishes.

Answer 2

Some of these people have given you weird advice.

Background blur (or bokeh) is a combination of aperture setting, lens length, and the distance between you and your subject. The longer the lens length (higher mag), the wider the aperture (a small diaphram in the lens, like the pupil in your eye), and the closer you are to your subject, the blurrier the out-of-focus parts of the photograph will be.

Don't use filters. Also, it's called opening up the aperture, not the shutter. The shutter (a tiny metal curtain) opens up at the moment of exposure, allowing light through the lens and the aperture to the sensor or film. It's the combination of aperture and shutter speed (how long the shutter is open) that yield a "correct" exposure. Wider apertures need shorter shutter speeds, and vice versa.

This is easy to do if you have an SLR type camera, but trickier with a point-and shoot, since you don't have as much control over the camera.

Check out http://www.markraymondmason.com for more. I have some tutorials on just this kind of thing in the "about" section.

Answer 3

It's a matter of aperture settings - basically how wide the lens opens up when the photo is taken. This determines depth of field, or how much of the photo is in focus. As the aperture numbers get smaller, the lens opens up more, and less of the photo is in focus.

Yes, it can be done digitally, but it's easier to just start that way with the original photograph.

Answer 4

It can be done with photo manipulation but it's best to get it right the first time around.

Getting a shallow depth of field (closer object in focus, background blurred) actually depends on quite a few factors;

Aperture - Using a wide/big aperture (i.e. f/1.8) will give you a shallow depth of field. Using a small aperture (i.e. f/22) will give you a deep depth of field. In this situation, more "items" in our photograph will be in focux.

Wide angle lenses will give you mode depth of field (DOF) than telephonoe lenses.

If an object is closer to the lens, the DOF is smaller and vice versa.

Answer 5

So far you have gotten somewhat misinformed answers.

What you are talking about is depth of field. You can get a fuzzy background by opening the shutter and slowing the shutter speed.

There is another way that is mention in the above answers, using a special filter that has a hole in it that is surrounded by a ground glass ring. I have one, never needed to use it.

Answer 6

You can do it all sorts of ways. I bought a filter for my 35mm film camera and it basically had a hole in it......you put the object in the center and the rest was blurred. But I have found that what works better is downloading the pics on the computer and doing that through a picture program.

Answer 7

Actual photography is the "right" way to do it... all you have to do is make sure the focus is on your subject manner when adjusting the aperture.

Answer 8

It has to do with the aperture. It is done best when the picture is initially taken but can be done with software such as Photoshop etc.

Go to photo.net and go to the "learning" section.

Answer 9

its the picture its called bokeh when you have a manual lens or a digital camera you can set it on macro and get close to you objective and it will focus only on what you want it to or what you zoom into. i love these kinds of picture here is one i took when i first got my little pint and shoot.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b154/ace_spades_101/photography/wheelbarrow.jpg

Answer 10

use 4or 2.8 in shutter, it is actual photography.