Kaitlin Noel Photography | Cape May Professional Photographer

 

Dear Kaitlin,

I know you said there are no stupid questions, so here goes. I am just beginning my photography journey. I got my first DSLR camera, a Canon 7D, for Christmas. I would LOVE to know how you get the blurry backgrounds in pictures. Bokeh, is that what its called?

XOXO,

Desperately Seeking Any and All Advice

 

Dear Beginner Seeking Any and All Advice,

You are 100% correct, there are no stupid questions as far as I am concerned. If there are…believe me when I tell you I have asked them all!!!

So, to all those technological and super duper advanced photogs out there reading this….this so may not be the article for you. For more advanced levels and explanations, I am sure there are countless resources out there that are better suited for your needs. The purpose of this blog however, is to answer my new friends question in a simplified and easy to comprehend manner.

Now, lets be real for a second here y’all: I ASKED THE VERY SAME QUESTION when I first started. And though some of you reading this may laugh at that…most would agree they were in the same boat when they first started. We get this shinny new camera/toy, turn it on, and immediately expect it to take the images we see our favorite photographers producing. We snap on our kit lens, which in my case was the 18-55 when I started with my Canon T2i, and we are immediately disappointed with its results. “HOW COULD IT NOT WORK…AFTER 1,000+….HOW COME THE BACKGROUND ISNT BLURRED??”

Try after try, the magically creamy and blurred background of bokeh magic was still not achieved. I changed mode after mode, but nothing helped. I then mustered up the thought that my camera just wasn’t good enough, so I too invested in the 7D. Then the question came to be…was it that the more expensive the camera is, the better the blur?

The answer is a little bit more complicated than a simple yes or no as the problem actually lies within the LENS you are using as opposed to the camera. Truthfully, the blurring essence of a background is not just the effect that lens has…it’s the consequence of the technical limits a lens has to see a wide range of distances. Laymen’s terms: How wide its aperture can go, basically. The lower the number the wider the aperture. (i.e. 1.2 aperture is much wider than a 4.0 aperture.) Of course, many camera lenses can blur the background, it’s just trying to work out which one will work with your camera and which one will be best. I know a lot of people seem to use the zeiss batis 85mm for portrait and wedding photography. This might be because the lens works well at isolating the subject of the picture from the background, making the main part of the image stand out much clearer. There are multiple lenses that will do this, so be sure to find the one that fits your camera model.

This image below was shot with the 85 1.2 at 1.2 (the widest aperture this lens can go).

Ok lets get a little more “technical” if that’s okay. One might be as bold to say that the wider the aperture on a lens, the lens then behaves as if it were shortsighted; just as a human eye would perform. The eye focuses on what’s closest and the rest is blurry, out of focus, and “disappears” into the background. This is a technical limitation that has been put into good use by photographers who mainly use it to remove distracting backgrounds, to accentuate the subject and throw the rest of the ‘junk’ in scene out of focus.

Ok…staying on par with the more “technical” side od things….I feel as though we should discuss the factors involved in achieving the blurred backgrounds you seek.

1. The Aperture of Your Lens. We briefly discussed this above. The smaller the aperture, the greater the ability to achieve greater bokeh (blur).
2. The Camera, The Subject Being Photographed, and the Distance both elements are from the Background.
3. The Focal Length of Your Lens.

Ok so we now know the important factors, but I feel as though it is important to go a little more in depth…just to make sure we cover everyone’s questions from all different levels. If you have NO IDEA what aperture is or how it affects your picture, or what it does in general, none of that information above will help. So really quick, here is a little information on what “APERTURE” is:

Lens Aperture (f/stop):

The aperture value or number noted on your lens tells you how much light the lens is able to collect. It gathers more light by opening the blades inside the lens wider. You can tell what the aperture range of your lens is by looking at numbers on your lens marked with a letter f. (i.e. f/1.2, f/2.8) The lower the f number the more light the lens lets in and the chances of getting soft, blurry and BOKEHIFIED backgrounds increase. Yes….you will be paying a large fee for those lower F stop numbers…but man the bokeh will be worth it! The lenses that are denoted as “L SERIES” lenses…at least in the Canon world…are the best of the best and have the best glass/lowest apertures. The great thing about these lenses is that they also allow you to shoot in darker situations. For instance, it would be VERY HARD to shoot a dark room with a lens that has a f/4.0 without an on camera or off camera flash and still maintain sharp and vivid images with awesomely blurred backgrounds. Believe me, I’VE TRIED! Fail!

Ok lets get a litttttle more technical here! In order to direct the camera to shoot at the f/stop of your choice….you need to make sure your camera has whats called AV mode. (Aperture Priority) In this mode, you simply tell the camera what f/stop (how much light to let in based on how wide the lens blade are opened) and the camera will set your other settings for you. (i.e. Your shutter speed)

Shot with the 50 1.2 at 2.0…UP CLOSE with center focal point placed on their faces. Great for bokeh/shoot through shots.

HELPFUL TIP- When you shoot above f/2.8, both your subject and your background start to be more and more and more in focus. So at numbers such as f/16…EVERYTHING will be nearly 100% in focus. Focal length will then come into play to make up for this factor.

What is Focal Length?

Basically….its the field of view of your lens. Still confusing right? Ok…the smaller the value…the wider angle the lens….YOU SEE MORE!

If you had a 100-200mm lens then you would see far with it; Just as you would see a scene with binoculars. I am sure you have seen those long lenses that are titled 70-200 2.8 IS right? This lens means that at 70 you can see more…because it’s a wider field of view and 200 means you can see less, but further….like binoculars. Make sense?

Great Kaitlin…but tell me how does this affect background blur?

The basic rule is that higher the zoom….the more blurred the background will be. Try this: Put your high zoom lens on our camera. For arguments sake, lets pretend it’s the 70-200 2.8 IS. Take a picture of a deer in the field. Then….walk about 10 feet towards that deer and take it again. HOPEFULLY you will see LESS of the deer, and MORE BOKEH. Did it work? I thought so : ) You just changed the filed of view….your focal length….to adjust your composure of a blurry/soft background. AWESOME! This all ties into number 2….the camera, the subject and the distance. CONGRATS…we just killed 2 birds with one stone! (Poor birds…Lets make it spiders instead…man I hate those things) : P

I also mentioned sensor size as one of four factors in this story of background blur. This is not something you should put too much emphasis on but a full frame sensor (the 7D IS A CROPPED FRAME…A 5D MARK II IS FULL FRAME) will get you nicer, softer background blur. I am not going to go into why (I said I’d keep this simple and look…we are four pages in-oops!).

Message to take away from this long -winded answer: INVEST in the right gear. Get the right lens and get the right subject-background distance and you will get there. You WILL achieve that blurry background you crave so desperately!

Best of luck to you my new friend and to anyone else reading this. I hope I helped…even if just a little.

Another shot with the 50 1.2 at 1.8 (My lenses sweet spot!!!)

 

My BOKEH Secret Weapons:

I USE THE CANON 5D MARK II, WITH THE 85 1.2. NOTHING IN THE WORLD COMES CLOSE TO THAT BOKEH….THOUGH….THE 50 1.2. IS MY SECOND FAVORITE PRIME PORTRAIT LENS FOR SOME KILLER BOKEH AS WELL : P

TO BE CLEAR–I DID MY RESEARCH ON HOW TO EXPLAIN THIS ONE TO EVERYONE THE BEST WAY POSSIBLE. I GATHERED INFORMATION FROM MANY SOURCES AND FOUND LAYOUTS THAT HELP EXCUTE THESE POINTS AND INSTRUCTIONS THE BEST FOR MY FANS AND FOLLOWERS. I THEN PUT EVERYTHING TO TEST AS WELL IN EVERYDAY SHOOTING. AFTER MANY MANY STARRED PAGES OF NOTES AND REFERENCE POINTS THIS BLOG WAS DERIVED. FOR MORE INFORMATION FROM THE EXPERTS YOU TOO MAY LOOK UP MORE INFORMATION ON THIS SUBJECT AND MANY OTHERS IN THE FORUMS I RELEASED BELOW.

(THANK YOU FOR BEING THERE FOR MYYYYY PERSONAL RESEARCH AND RESOURCES…IGN, GORDAN LAING, WIKIHOW, DARREN ROWSE, AND MANY MANY OTHER RESOURCES BOTH ON YOUTUBE AND OTHER PHOTOGRAPHERS.) I ESPECIALLY WANT TO THANK http://www.picturecorrect.com/tips/how-to-create-a-blurry-background-in-photography/ FOR THEIR EXCELLENT INFORMATION/GUIDELINES AS WELL.