How to shoot a pic like this ?


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Guapo

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Aug 1, 2007
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Hi all.....
I find the following picture very nice with the subject in front and the back ground is blurry.
How can i take a pic like this with my Canon A590IS ?
What manual settings must i set to capture similar to this ?
Thanks for all advices.




Oh i forgot....
And how to do the reverse ?
Meaning the front blurry and the background is clear.

Thanks again.
 

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if it is not your picture, at least credit it

if i were you, i would place an external link so that people will not kb you

you need to open up your aperture, use longest focal length possible, and focus on the person. the person should be far from background

note that despite all this, your camera may not be ab le to achieve the same shallow dof
 

It will be hard with your camera, as you are limited by the lens and aperture. However, if you did a simple search, you would have found articles like this:

Popping Portraits

In short, max telephoto, max aperture, and mind the subject to background distance.
 

It's hard to get shots like this with a P&S. Using a longer focal length (more zoom) might help.

Or alternatively, you can do it with photoshop, although it would be more tedious.
 

It's hard to get shots like this with a P&S. Using a longer focal length (more zoom) might help.

Or alternatively, you can do it with photoshop, although it would be more tedious.

Almost impossible as the aperture is generally too small.... You need a large aperture lens to do so.

Your next best bet is to do it in PS.
 

if it is not your picture, at least credit it

if i were you, i would place an external link so that people will not kb you

you need to open up your aperture, use longest focal length possible, and focus on the person. the person should be far from background

note that despite all this, your camera may not be ab le to achieve the same shallow dof

Sorry i cannot credit the pic cuz i cannot remember where i found it. It was already on my HD and found it while clearing my IE cache.
I'm been doing alot of naughty things so clearing my cache and cookies is a daily affair and that is when i chanced upon this nice pic.

I'm a total newbie and aperture focal length are like quantum physics terminology to me.
Catch no ball. Can u help me and put it in simple terms if possible ?

Thanks for your advice.

It will be hard with your camera, as you are limited by the lens and aperture. However, if you did a simple search, you would have found articles like this:

Popping Portraits

In short, max telephoto, max aperture, and mind the subject to background distance.

I thought A590IS has manual modes to tweak ?
So cannot do with my cam ?

If i was searching for Canon A590IS, using the search function would have helped and i wouldn't have to open a new thread to ask a question like " How to take a picture with my Canon A590IS to take pictures with the subject in focus and the background blurry?"

I'm sure google will come up with a new search engine to help newbies search for answers this way.

Max telephoto = max zoom ? which is 4x on my camera ?
Max aperture = where is this ?
mind the subject to the background = how ?

Thanks for advices.

It's hard to get shots like this with a P&S. Using a longer focal length (more zoom) might help.

Or alternatively, you can do it with photoshop, although it would be more tedious.

So u mean just zoom till max ( ex. 4x ) on my canon can achieve that ?

Dun understand leh.
Can any auto and preset setting on my cam can do this or not ?

I'm just trying to learn to take nice pictures to share.
But not easy i can see.
Hope u guys can help to the max of ur ability and patience.

Thank you.
 

So u mean just zoom till max ( ex. 4x ) on my canon can achieve that ?

Dun understand leh.
Can any auto and preset setting on my cam can do this or not ?

No. This is the limitations of P&S. Every digital camera has a sensor, and with P&S, they have much smaller sensors compared to DSLRs. So simply to put it, any P&S with a small sensor will have difficulties in capturing a photo with the subject in focus and the background blur. But it depends on how you want the photo to be. For wide angles, it's nearly impossible. But for telephoto (zoom), it can be possible. See the previous link posted for info. :)
 

I'm a total newbie and aperture focal length are like quantum physics terminology to me.
Catch no ball. Can u help me and put it in simple terms if possible ?

Thanks for your advice.
hi guapo,

hope you do not take this negatively.

google is your best friend, otherwise you can read sulhan's photography notes in the newbies corner --> articles & guides here, there is stuff on aperture and focal length there.

you do know how to use your manual mode? if not, read your camera's manual, or experiment. i would not deny you the fun of self-exploration. :)

cheers!
 

You can do the following:

  1. Put your camera on a tripod
  2. Zoom to the max
  3. Set your camera to Av mode ( smallest F Stop)
  4. Set your ISO to 100
  5. Activate the Marco AF
  6. Set the timer
  7. Try again....


Hope it helps... :)
 

Last edited:
No. This is the limitations of P&S. Every digital camera has a sensor, and with P&S, they have much smaller sensors compared to DSLRs. So simply to put it, any P&S with a small sensor will have difficulties in capturing a photo with the subject in focus and the background blur. But it depends on how you want the photo to be. For wide angles, it's nearly impossible. But for telephoto (zoom), it can be possible. See the previous link posted for info. :)

I will try out and see if the info posted works.
If not , it's time for a sale !
Anyone interested in Canon A590IS ? cheap cheap ?

hi guapo,

hope you do not take this negatively.

google is your best friend, otherwise you can read sulhan's photography notes in the newbies corner --> articles & guides here, there is stuff on aperture and focal length there.

you do know how to use your manual mode? if not, read your camera's manual, or experiment. i would not deny you the fun of self-exploration. :)

cheers!

nothing to take negatively.
I'm a newbie in photography. I've been in numerous forums where i've seen newbie asking questions getting flamed for not searching. I can understand how they feel. But at time i can also feel they are stupid cuz they dun search. But how to search a term that they dun even understand ?

After reading Sulhan's notes..... I think my initial question is "How to vary Depth of Field ?" or something like that.
But how to u expect a newbie to know or understand or even search google what is Depth of Field without someone explaining or showing ?

This is the reason why i posed a question here.
Now that i know what i'm looking for, i can easily search google for notes on "Depth of Field" and make things easier.

Manual mode ? I know the camera has it but i'm do not know how to set it for the shots.
The manual looks very technical.
Hence why i'm here for the easy way out.

Thanks for all replies and advices.
 

It is hard to get using P&S, I can't imagine how far the camera and the subject would be.. and u are lucky if the subject getting focused, because P&S always focusing on brighter subject, just make sure your subject well illuminated... by the way, sensor size really matter to create such effect, where P&S camera is smaller than DSLR.. Just try what Anson suggest...and don't forget to disable the digital zoom...
 

I will try out and see if the info posted works.
If not , it's time for a sale !
Anyone interested in Canon A590IS ? cheap cheap ?



nothing to take negatively.
I'm a newbie in photography. I've been in numerous forums where i've seen newbie asking questions getting flamed for not searching. I can understand how they feel. But at time i can also feel they are stupid cuz they dun search. But how to search a term that they dun even understand ?

After reading Sulhan's notes..... I think my initial question is "How to vary Depth of Field ?" or something like that.
But how to u expect a newbie to know or understand or even search google what is Depth of Field without someone explaining or showing ?

This is the reason why i posed a question here.
Now that i know what i'm looking for, i can easily search google for notes on "Depth of Field" and make things easier.

Manual mode ? I know the camera has it but i'm do not know how to set it for the shots.
The manual looks very technical.
Hence why i'm here for the easy way out.

Thanks for all replies and advices.

Sorry to say, but I learnt many things by myself. I'm self-taught, reading up on the different terms, DOF, aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and managed to understand it, with help from google and this wonderful forum. I believe you can too.

I recommend you get the book HWM Megaguide : Digital Photography. Not sure if it's still for sale, but it teaches you the basics and it's really simple to understand. Try searching this forums. :bsmilie:
 

Manual mode ? I know the camera has it but i'm do not know how to set it for the shots.
The manual looks very technical.
Hence why i'm here for the easy way out.

Thanks for all replies and advices.

glad that sulhan's notes helped. a lot of queries from newcomers can be answered if they read it, i feel very bad if i just repeat what he says, seems like wasting his effort. :)

i cannot help with the operation of your camera, but i had an old powershot,

if i am not wrong, either aperture priority or manual mode would do the trick of what you want (to the best of your camera's limitations).

turn the dial to that, then adjust the aperture (this is how large the size of the hole in the lens is, if you read sulhan's notes) by looking at the four-way dial, and use the left and right cursor.

i hope your operation is the same. if the picture is too dark, you can vary the exposure, increase by going up on the up cursor, if too bright then decrease by going down. maybe i mixed up up/down and left/right, don't be afraid to press buttons on your cam, at the very least can reset it. :) i learnt a lot by pressing random buttons and anyhow snapping away to try to assimilate what i had learnt from reading. theory can only take you so far.

for manual mode, i cannot remmeber how it was done, so you still have to read your manual. either that or press buttons to try, like i said. :) generally fiddle around with the numbers while referring to the notes and you will get it, i think.

hope this helped!
 

The last I shot portraits in such lightings, without flash, I used ISO 400-1600, big A and steady hands, else the slow shutter will kill the pic. If that doesn't happen, the gal moving will kill the pic.

P&S would be even more challenging, not to say it's impossible. Notice her body is partially lit by some nearby lights, else she'll appear underexposed.
 

You can do the following:

  1. Put your camera on a tripod
  2. Zoom to the max
  3. Set your camera to Av mode ( smallest F Stop)
  4. Set your ISO to 100
  5. Activate the Marco AF
  6. Set the timer
  7. Try again....


Hope it helps... :)

Will try that when i get back home. Thanks.

It is hard to get using P&S, I can't imagine how far the camera and the subject would be.. and u are lucky if the subject getting focused, because P&S always focusing on brighter subject, just make sure your subject well illuminated... by the way, sensor size really matter to create such effect, where P&S camera is smaller than DSLR.. Just try what Anson suggest...and don't forget to disable the digital zoom...

I know a P&S will never replicate a DSLR.
The reason i got a A590IS is that i read it has manual controls so at least i can try to get pics as close to DSLR as possible. Just hoping to get the best out of the P&S.

Thanks.

Sorry to say, but I learnt many things by myself. I'm self-taught, reading up on the different terms, DOF, aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and managed to understand it, with help from google and this wonderful forum. I believe you can too.

I recommend you get the book HWM Megaguide : Digital Photography. Not sure if it's still for sale, but it teaches you the basics and it's really simple to understand. Try searching this forums. :bsmilie:

I try and read more.

glad that sulhan's notes helped. a lot of queries from newcomers can be answered if they read it, i feel very bad if i just repeat what he says, seems like wasting his effort. :)

i cannot help with the operation of your camera, but i had an old powershot,

if i am not wrong, either aperture priority or manual mode would do the trick of what you want (to the best of your camera's limitations).

turn the dial to that, then adjust the aperture (this is how large the size of the hole in the lens is, if you read sulhan's notes) by looking at the four-way dial, and use the left and right cursor.

i hope your operation is the same. if the picture is too dark, you can vary the exposure, increase by going up on the up cursor, if too bright then decrease by going down. maybe i mixed up up/down and left/right, don't be afraid to press buttons on your cam, at the very least can reset it. :) i learnt a lot by pressing random buttons and anyhow snapping away to try to assimilate what i had learnt from reading. theory can only take you so far.

for manual mode, i cannot remmeber how it was done, so you still have to read your manual. either that or press buttons to try, like i said. :) generally fiddle around with the numbers while referring to the notes and you will get it, i think.

hope this helped!

I will try and will let u know if successful.
Thanks.

The last I shot portraits in such lightings, without flash, I used ISO 400-1600, big A and steady hands, else the slow shutter will kill the pic. If that doesn't happen, the gal moving will kill the pic.

P&S would be even more challenging, not to say it's impossible. Notice her body is partially lit by some nearby lights, else she'll appear underexposed.

What is a big A ?

Slow shutter ? How slow ? Can the subject wait and pose for that long while the shutter captures everything ?

Does this effect work with flash ?

Thanks all.
 

I'm a total newbie and aperture focal length are like quantum physics terminology to me.
Catch no ball. Can u help me and put it in simple terms if possible ?

Read the newbies guides. They're painstakingly written for a reason.


If i was searching for Canon A590IS, using the search function would have helped and i wouldn't have to open a new thread to ask a question like " How to take a picture with my Canon A590IS to take pictures with the subject in focus and the background blurry?"

I'm sure google will come up with a new search engine to help newbies search for answers this way.

No need, as there are already many articles about it. Your mistake was to limit it to "Canon A590IS". If you had searched for "sharp subject blurred background" you would have more hits. Also, read the article I linked for you.

Max telephoto = max zoom ? which is 4x on my camera ?
Max aperture = where is this ?
mind the subject to the background = how ?

Thanks for advices.

Again, read the article, and read your manual.



Can any auto and preset setting on my cam can do this or not ?

Chances are, your cam should have a portrait creative style. That should come close to an auto setting.
 

try to take close to your subject, relative to the background.

well, you are limited by your camera, so why not try photoshop to get the effect?
 

try to take close to your subject, relative to the background.

well, you are limited by your camera, so why not try photoshop to get the effect?

Photoshop ?
U want me to spend a few hundreds to get the effect ?
Or u rather i get pirate ? ;p

Either way, it poses a bigger problem.
More questions on how to use Photoshop to get desired effects.

I'd rather use the camera i have to best replicate or sell it off cheap !

Cheers !
 

well... i am definitely not suggesting you to be a pirate =P

but i personally feel that post photography is something important, though not necessary, and the few hundred bucks software (got free with laptop purchase from sch) helps me to work with raw, merge HDR images, noise reduction, and lots more. you can check out other posters.

besides, it is easy to learn and most will agree that the 80/20 rule applies. 80% of the effects can be achieved from using 20% of the features =)

p/s: the next best thing is to get some teacher/student to purchase Adobe CS web Premium 4. Heard tt it is offered at $99 for NIE. (definitely a steal)
 

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