Hi there!

Today I will write a brief post on how to achieve a nice soft background.

Tip # 1

DSLR:

Use a wide aperture!  The lower your f-stop number, the wider your aperture.

NOTE : Be careful & be aware that the wider the aperture you use, the shallower your focal plane will be.  Meaning other objects will may be soft as well.  See the first image above.  I focused on the green leaf in the foreground.  Parts of the flower & even the vase are soft.

Point & Shoot :

Put your camera setting on portrait.  Most times this is designated by a face icon on the settings dial.

(If you want MORE of your background in focus, put it on the landscape mountain icon on the dial!)

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Tip #2

Get close to your subject!  The closer you are, the more ‘out of focus’ your background will be.

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Tip #3

Place your subject as far away from the background as possible.  The more distance, the softer the background will be.

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Hope this helps!  I am could go on and on about aperture, but trying to keep this short & sweet & to the point!

Please feel free to leave feedback & any questions you may have in the comment section.

I am also accepting suggestions for next week’s tip!  Leave a comment…

Thanks!

~Kathy

Welcome to the first Tuesday Photo Tip!

This Tuesday series will cover many topics, from beginner to advanced photography.

I have learned so much from other photographers, and I am excited to give back to my community.

I am not claiming to know the right way or answer to do everything, this is just what works for ME.

If there is any topic or question you would like me to cover here, please feel free to leave a comment on this post, email me (contact link above) or write on my Facebook wall (click HERE).

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This week I will start with a photo I took this past weekend.  I got several questions and comments, such as “how did you do that”, “how did you pose everyone”.

Nikon D300s  50mm

ISO 800   f/4.0   1/1000

I have to admit, posing has always been my weakest point, until this past year.  I committed to learning all I could about posing & un-posing (suggesting a certain action i.e. everyone crack up).  I still have plenty of room for improvement, but would like to share with you a few tips that have stuck with me along the way.

1. Let people be people & take your time. I told my girlfriends to ‘stand here’.  I then proceeded to take my sweet time adjusting my camera settings.  If I had taken the picture right away, they wouldn’t have had time to start chatting and making each other laugh!

2. “Connect with each other”.  Images have more meaning, at least to me, when the subjects are interacting & touching.  I told them they had to be touching in some way.  They laughed and fooled around, but eventually this is how they connected.

 3. Make triangles when you can.  Earlier in the day this came up in our conversation.  Triangles flatter people & photographs.  I am on the far left, and my arm and leg is making a triangle, and you can see a few others remembered too!

So, you may ask, did I lug my tripod and gear out to the field?  Heck no!  I grabbed my camera on the way out the door for our short hike, not even thinking I would take a groups shot.  But the light & the mood was right, so I made it work and this is how:

I moved them to be in good shooting distance from this stump!

(How ’bout the iPhone 5 photos?  Lovin’ it!)

I propped my camera up with some dry twigs to get a better angle!

Keep it simple, keep it fun!

 Please leave a comment if you have any questions or ideas for the topic for next week!

~Kathy