Shallow depth of focus makes your background soft and your subject sharp.
If you want to give your snapshots a portrait-like quality, set a shallow depth of focus on your camera. Also known as depth of field (DOF), a shallow depth of focus isn't a setting on your camera, but rather a technique. A photograph created with this technique renders your main subject sharp and dominant while the foreground and/or background become soft and out-of-focus. Use a shallow depth of focus to create portraits or place focus on one specific portion of a photograph.
Instructions
1. Attach a telephoto lens to your Single lens reflex (SLR) film or digital camera. Zoom to the longest focal length available on the lens. For example, use the 200 mm setting on an 18 mm to 200 mm zoom lens.
2. Set your camera to aperture priority mode. Choose the largest aperture possible, such a f2.8, f4.0 or f5.6. The smaller the aperture number, the more shallow your depth of field will become.
3. Position your subject a distance from the background. Create as much space between the two to create an increasingly blurry background and shallow depth of focus.
4. Look through the viewfinder of the camera and frame your shot. Press the shutter button half-way down to active auto-focus. Place the focusing markers -- visible in the viewfinder -- over the subject you want to appear sharp.
5. Snap the picture. Review the image in the playback mode if using a digital camera. Notice the shallow depth of focus in the foreground and background.
Tags: depth focus, shallow depth, shallow depth focus, depth field, digital camera, foreground background, lens your