How do you use portrait mode on a camera to blur the background?

Question

How do you use portrait mode to blur the background on a Canon Powershot S3 IS camera? Potential scenario: A person stands in front of some trees/foliage and and my picture shows a crisp foreground of the subject and an artistically blurry background.

Yes, I am an amateur.
No, I am not going to buy an SLR.
Yes, the Powershot is a point-and-shoot camera for advanced amateurs.
Yes, the Powershot has portrait mode.
Yes, I want the camera to do it automatically for me because I am an amateur.

Answer 1

Don't apologize for not using a dSLR! They're not for everyone, HOWEVER they do make some things easier! Like blurred backgrounds, for instance.

Everyone is correct, but the problem is really the inherent greater depth of field on a digicam. Because of the wide angle lenses and the small sensor, it is harder to get areas way out of focus unless you are shooting on macro mode. So put subject far in front of background, and zoom in as much as possible. Longer focal lengths have less DOF.

Good luck!

Answer 2

I'm glad you answered all the questions most people would have. :-)

Portrait mode will try and use slight telephoto (like a 70mm equiv) along with a large aperture (which will give a shallower depth of field).

Without getting into too many details, some amount of what is behind the subject will be in focus, so the greater the separation you can get between the subject and background will assist you in getting the blurry background effect.

Try and make sure you get a good focus and exposure lock on the subject, or even on something a little closer to you than the subject if it's lit the way you want.

Focus and exposure lock is usually accomplished by pointing the camera at the object that is lit the way you want and is at the range you want, then pressing the shutter button halfway. Re-point the camera at the actual object you want to take a photo of and then press the shutter button the rest of the way.

Try and keep track of what you did and take several shots in different ways - this will help you learn how to use your particular camera.

Some cameras have a red-eye feature that will fire a quick flash before the main flash and exposure is taken - this is to help close down the iris of the eye of the subject. (Make sure people don't flinch when that first flash fires.) You can also have the person look away from the camera so the light doesn't reflect directly off the back of the eye. The other option is to work in Photoshop or equivalent afterwards to reduce the saturation of the red spot and/or darken it. Some software has a red-eye reduction feature, but I find doing it manually works better.

Good luck, have fun.

Answer 3

Hold the button down a little till the area in the square is in focus (the square outline turns red). Make sure there is variation for the camera to get a crisp focus on (an outline, a feature ... not a constant color without variations like a t-shirt)

Keep that same pressure on and you can hold that focus while panning the subject away from the center of the shot.

You can also use this method to focus at a certain distance before the subject gets there and snap the photo as they enter the spot you framed the photo for.

One photo I took was when the subject was using a hand mirror. The automatic focus would blur the face and have the mirror frame in focus ... so I first focused on a spot twice the distance away with the same light, then panned to the mirror. The reflected face was in focus while the morror was blurred.

Answer 4

A blurry background depends on three things: aperture, focal length, and distance. Portrait mode will only set the aperture. Zoom (focal length) and distance is up to you. I think if you compare the two cameras with the same zoom and distance, you will get the same blurry background.

Answer 5

With the S3 IS, also make sure your focus is set to single and not...continuous.
And make sure your auto focus frame is set to the centre. That way you will know exactly where the camera is focusing...so you can lock in your focus on your subject with the half press of the shutter button and then recompose your shot if you have to.