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How to blur background

bluequintana

New Member
Hi,

Can someone give me some basic instruction on how to focus on an image and blur the background? I have looked at some photos people have posted on this forum and have no idea how its done.

Do i need to be in MANUAL mode in order to do this?

I took the following photo of a Guinness pint glass in MANUAL mode with these settings:

Camera: Ricoh GX200
F2.5
1/8 exposure
ISO100
My F1 button is set to AE/AF and i moved the curser to focus in on the Guiness glass

When i do this, the focus seems to do exactly what i dont want and focus in on the background. I want to blur the glass. Any idea what I'm doing wrong? Sorry for the basic question. I read the manual but can't seem to get what I'm doing wrong. Any tips would be very helpful.

Thanks,

Cam

2.
 

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Only explanation I have is that you may be too close to the glas. I don´t remember the shortest focus distance of the GX 200 but the glas looks very close.

Wolfgang
 
Try pushing the macro (green flower) button first. Then focus on the Guiness, recompose, shoot!. ;) Have the camera in A (aperture priority) at about what you had it before, 2.8, ISO auto high 800 should be enough.....One way anyway. :)....BTW. May be a good time to check out the manual if yo can. It has good tips on just what you're after as far as I recall.
 
With small format cameras like the GRDs and GXs you get a big depth of focus (helps street photographers) which makes it hard to blur the background (see the bokeh thread). I think you need to select macro and try again - my other comment is that your shutter speed was very slow so unless you use a tripod you may get some unwanted blur due to camera movement.

So try:

Aperture priority
Lens wide open (small aperture number)
Spot focus
Macro mode
Select an ISO that gives you a shutter speed of 1/30th or faster
Put the glass in the middle of the frame, half press the shutter for focus lock then holding the shutter at half press, compose the shot and take it.

Please let us all know if this helps...or not.

Richard
 
Hi Cam,
I too think the glass is a little too close for 'normal' focus and would also suggest the macro mode is used. Also, and in addition to the other good advice you have received above, you could try the AE/AF target shift control which should be available by scrolling through the Adj lever options. This allows you to force the camera to focus on the cross which you can move about on the screen using the 4-way control disc.
All the best,
Andy
 
Ok, here is another attempt at blurring the background. Way different shot since its during the daytime, but I think I managed to do what i set out to do, which is keep the focus on the first bottle and blur the 2nd.
 

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Bluequintana, first off thanks for posting your results - it can be very frustrating when the topic goes quiet unresolved.

You've certainly got the nearer glass nicely sharp while the other is soft so this is significant progress. If you wanted even more blur you would need to use a larger aperture (ie a smaller F number such a F/4 or even the largest on the GX200 of F/2.5 at the wide angle end). The larger the aperture (expressed by a smaller F number) the less depth of field (focus) so the closer the blur starts to the focused object (hope this makes sense). The other plus point of the larger aperture is it lets in more light and you will therefore get a faster shutter speed which will be helpful in preventing unwanted blur of the focused subject due to camera movement.

Anyway, digital is almost free to use so try a few more different settings and see how you get on.

Richard
 
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