I’m going to do a series on my blog about how to take better photos with your nice cameras! Please feel free to comment with any questions you have and I will respond back! So here we go….
I remember absolutely loving my photos when I got my first dSLR. I thought they were SO much better than my point and shoot images (and they were!) I did this for about 6 months and then I realized that I wanted to achieve certain effects with my camera (at the time, I mainly wanted a blurry background to make my subject stand out) and AUTO was not doing that for me!
So I purchased my first prime lens (fixed focal length- it does not zoom), a Nikkor 50mm f/1.8, and threw the camera on Aperture Priority mode (The A on your dial if you are Nikon or Av if you are Canon).
This mode allows you to choose your aperture and the camera will select the rest of the settings (shutter speed and ISO) to expose the image correctly (well kinda…) 🙂 It’s a bit more complicated than that, but for now, let’s say it will result in a properly exposed image.
What exactly is happening with your camera when you set it on aperture priority mode? You are controlling how wide a ring inside your camera lens opens. This part gets confusing… if you have a wide aperture (the ring opens up a lot), you make your aperture number smaller. For example f/1.8 is the widest my 5omm f/1.8 lens would open up to (those numbers on the lens do mean something! (: ). This lets a lot of  light into your camera and it makes your depth of field really narrow (so you get a blurry background!).
The photo of my daughter above was taken with an Aperture of f/1.4. Notice that she is in focus, but the background is pretty blurry. You can sort of make out what is behind her, but not easily.
If you want your depth of field to be really deep (you want more in focus), you need to have a larger aperture number (around f/5.6 or above). When you do that, the ring inside your camera is much smaller, so it lets in less light.
The photo of my daughter was taken in the exact same spot. I didn’t move and she didn’t either… well she sat as still as a 5 year old can! The only thing that changed was my camera settings. This had an aperture of f/5.6. You can pretty much make out most things in the background. They are still blurry, but not as much.
Clear as mud? Here is what you need to take away from all that….if you want to have a blurry background, put your camera in Aperture Priority mode (A/Av), dial your aperture down to the lowest number your lens allows and take a close up photo of your kids. Your background should be blurry(ish) depending on your lens. Now, if your background is really close to your subject, it’s going to be more in focus than if it’s further away from your subject. If you want a lot in focus, have a larger number set for your aperture and be further away from your subject.
Of course, all of this depends on the available light. Don’t try this if you are in a dimly lit room. Your photo will end up blurry because there’s not enough light for the camera to freeze the moment. Any questions? Please feel free to ask! Also, if there’s something you want me include in future blog posts, please don’t hesitate to mention it!
