Newbie Asking About Technical Questions


Status
Not open for further replies.

arikevin

Senior Member
Oct 21, 2003
683
0
16
Serangoon
Hi guys, I am a new into photography. I am using Canon PowerShot A70 and I got it about a month and a half ago. Muz I say it's a good camera.

However, after looking at some of the members's photos (Clubsnaps and Hardwarezone), I am very impressed with the picture quality and technical level. What I wanna know from the gurus here is about technical questions.

Well, here's the newbie questions :D

Let's say I have an object (foreground) and large (wide?) scenery behind it (background). I just would like to make the object focused and sharp while the background is blurred, very blurred. I have to set the aperture stop/value to the lowest (say 2.8, which my camera can go to). Well, I have shot using that value and the background still very sharp. Hmmmm, what exactly should I do? I am very confused actually. hehe. Should I manually adjust the focus?

Here's another question.

What if I wanna make the foreground blur and background very sharp? example, my friend is in flower garden and she is in the middle but she is in between flowers. I would like to make the background sharp as I want her to become the object.

Hope my question can be answered. hehe. :sweat:


Thanks in advance :lovegrin:

PS. I have started another thread in another forum in clubsnap. please delete which is at the wrong place. thanks.
 

Hi there,

Here are several pointers you should consider for selective focusing:
1. Determine the depth of field - how much foreground and background from the object you want to be in focus. General rule I think is 1/3 the distance to the front and 2/3 to the rear will be in focus.

2. Since you are using a entry level digicam, you may not be able to determine the above with too much accuracy, so just vary the aperture and shoot several shots to compare results.

3. Also it would help to emphasize the effect you want to achieve by doing the following:
a) get closer in to your subject
b) use the longer range of the zoom
c) open the aperture as you have rightfully mentioned

Here is an online guide for you
http://www.agfanet.com/en/cafe/photocourse/digicourse/lesson15/cont_chapter02.php3
 

Status
Not open for further replies.