how to create bokeh effect

[This Is Fate]

hi i recently just bought a lumix lx3 and im still experimenting with the functions of the camera.

i wanted to create bokeh types of effect but it either turns out too soft or the background isnt blur enough.
is there anyway to make the background more blur?
and how can i adjust the focal length of the camera?

your help is deeply appreciated!

[nublx3]

you can increase the focal length by zooming in and physically moving the camera back to get the same magnification.

also, make sure aperture is max out, to give u more blur effect.

Originally Posted by This Is Fate hi i recently just bought a lumix lx3 and im still experimenting with the functions of the camera. i wanted to create bokeh types of effect but it either turns out too soft or the background isnt blur enough. is there anyway to make the background more blur? and how can i adjust the focal length of the camera? your help is deeply appreciated!

[Ouverture]

If you are looking to have the same bokeh as those produced from DSLR, then it LX3 is not able to do it. Unless in Macro mode and subject is very close, then the backgroound will be blur...

As mentioned by some bros, due to the smaller sensor and lens, even for the same aperture size and focal length, the bokeh is still somewhat not as "good/blur" as compared to a DSLR with the same settings.

Even for DSLR, different focal length/aperture settings on different types of lens also produce bokeh differently.

[skyguy]

to get bokeh for point and shoot

1) macro, go very close to the subject

2) zoom, i haven't try zooming on a object on a table or something, but i tried zooming to a person face with lowest F stop possible and was able to get the background bokeh effect. Together with this, the background is also quite far.

[spEechLeZ]

General idea is to exaggerate the difference in distance from cam to subject and cam to background, make sure nothing else in the frame is close to your subject. Then like they say, open up the aperture as large as possible, f/2.0 on wide angle or if you zoom (i think it helps) f/2.8 (large aperture reduces depth of field). I never owned a DSLR so can't tell you how different LX3's bokeh is from DSLR one, but here's what I managed to do:


No pp except watermark and resize. Aperture Priority, f/2.0, 1/30.

which you can then post process to accentuate whatever effect you want:


Hope this helps

[This Is Fate]

thanks for the info! really appreciate it!

[This Is Fate]

Originally Posted by spEechLeZ which you can then post process to accentuate whatever effect you want: Hope this helps

this is really nice, how did you convert the background to black and white while the subject remains its color?
thanks!

[isaryan]

maybe made one layer copy and covert it to BW or desaturate it. Then erased flower part mah..

maybe la..what do i know..

[spEechLeZ]

Originally Posted by isaryan maybe made one layer copy and covert it to BW or desaturate it. Then erased flower part mah.. maybe la..what do i know..

Yes! almost completely right haha

This Is Fate >> There's a hundred and one ways to do it, but definitely involves magnetic lasso (or any similar tool in GIMP etc) to select out the flower, then what I did was copy that out, the did the Gorman-Holbert Method to convert to B&W and stuck the coloured flower back on as a new layer. Crucial part is definitely the lasso selection part, if done well, there's many ways of make the background B&W. Desaturate etc all fine, depends on preference.

Can also google on something like "black and white background colour subject" lots of methods.

[habibansari]

lumix + good photoshop skills = good bokeh effect

[spEechLeZ]

haha there's another good example by andrewtansj on the Pictures from LX3 thread, the last photo is probably what u're looking for, live subject somemore lol. If you look at the EXIF data, its f/2, then again bring the subject as close as possible and keep the background far.