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hey newbies, DOF will rock your world!!

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Egg

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so, if you're not a newbie, then leave this thread - it'll just make you laugh :-)

otherwise, if you're like me (very new to photography), then read on!

I've had my G2 for a few weeks now, and have only now worked out how to take a proper shot using short Depth of Field - you know, the blurry effect you can have on backgrounds.

Heres how I did it with my G2:
  • goto AV mode
  • zoom the lens all the way out
  • change the apature to 2.5 (or as low as it will go)
  • take pic of subject relatively close up.
  • vioila! blurry background!!!!
isn't photography great!!! trying doing that on a Point and Shoot!! :-))

 
Actually you could probably do that with a point and shoot. Try the same shot with your G2, put it in Auto mode, zoom all the way in and take the shot. With the available light the cam will probably select the lowest f stop and bingo - same pic.
Egg said:
so, if you're not a newbie, then leave this thread - it'll just
make you laugh :-)

otherwise, if you're like me (very new to photography), then read on!

I've had my G2 for a few weeks now, and have only now worked out
how to take a proper shot using short Depth of Field - you know,
the blurry effect you can have on backgrounds.

Heres how I did it with my G2:
  • goto AV mode
  • zoom the lens all the way out
  • change the apature to 2.5 (or as low as it will go)
  • take pic of subject relatively close up.
  • vioila! blurry background!!!!
isn't photography great!!! trying doing that on a Point and Shoot!!
:-))

Click to expand...
 
As Brian alluded to, you can actually get shorter DOF by changing to wide angle (and f/2.0) and getting closer to the subject and shot exactly the same frame. However, you will get less blur, because the telephoto lens increases the size of the background objects, and makes their blur more apparent.

Nothing like a good telephoto for some blur:



Jason
BrianG3 said:
Egg said:
so, if you're not a newbie, then leave this thread - it'll just
make you laugh :-)

otherwise, if you're like me (very new to photography), then read on!

I've had my G2 for a few weeks now, and have only now worked out
how to take a proper shot using short Depth of Field - you know,
the blurry effect you can have on backgrounds.

Heres how I did it with my G2:
  • goto AV mode
  • zoom the lens all the way out
  • change the apature to 2.5 (or as low as it will go)
  • take pic of subject relatively close up.
  • vioila! blurry background!!!!
isn't photography great!!! trying doing that on a Point and Shoot!!
:-))

Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
great shot, but I think it would be even better if the fore-ground can be focused... I am getting a G2 (hunting for a good price), so and idea on how to achieve that? or is that a trade off if you want to blur the back ground? thanks
Jason Hutchinson said:
Nothing like a good telephoto for some blur:



Jason
BrianG3 said:
Egg said:
so, if you're not a newbie, then leave this thread - it'll just
make you laugh :-)

otherwise, if you're like me (very new to photography), then read on!

I've had my G2 for a few weeks now, and have only now worked out
how to take a proper shot using short Depth of Field - you know,
the blurry effect you can have on backgrounds.

Heres how I did it with my G2:
  • goto AV mode
  • zoom the lens all the way out
  • change the apature to 2.5 (or as low as it will go)
  • take pic of subject relatively close up.
  • vioila! blurry background!!!!
isn't photography great!!! trying doing that on a Point and Shoot!!
:-))

Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Jason Hutchinson said:
As Brian alluded to, you can actually get shorter DOF by changing
to wide angle (and f/2.0) and getting closer to the subject and
shot exactly the same frame. However, you will get less blur,
because the telephoto lens increases the size of the background
objects, and makes their blur more apparent.

Nothing like a good telephoto for some blur:



Jason
Click to expand...
Didn't you mean "...changing to tele..." in the first sentence? It would make more sense and would fit the rest of your text.

--
Marc Jutras
G3 + 420ex
http://www.marcjutras.com
 
ohhh... didn't realise! :-)

i'll try a few different shots tonight then, and post again!
 
Try shooting a couple of shots in macro, that will blur the background nicely.

--
Gowan
G3 - MV5i
 
ok, will do. but the main reason/desire for playing with the DOF stuff, is for making people/portrait photos..

will the macro mode still be useable here? i guess if i move further back, then yes.

I guess im just trying to find the opitmal "portrait with background blur" photo in my house...
Gowan said:
Try shooting a couple of shots in macro, that will blur the
background nicely.

--
Gowan
G3 - MV5i
Click to expand...
 
For portrait it won't work that well, the camera will be unable to focus at anything over 50 cms or so. I guess it might work for extreme closeups :D

A blurred background could be accomplished in Photoshop (of course) but that would require post processing. Hopefully you'll find a sufficiently narrow DOF so you can avoid that extra step.
Egg said:
ok, will do. but the main reason/desire for playing with the DOF
stuff, is for making people/portrait photos..

will the macro mode still be useable here? i guess if i move
further back, then yes.

I guess im just trying to find the opitmal "portrait with
background blur" photo in my house...
Click to expand...
--
Gowan
G3 - MV5i
 
...larger DOF you get.

-Jack
Jason Hutchinson said:
Nothing like a good telephoto for some blur:



Jason
BrianG3 said:
Egg said:
so, if you're not a newbie, then leave this thread - it'll just
make you laugh :-)

otherwise, if you're like me (very new to photography), then read on!

I've had my G2 for a few weeks now, and have only now worked out
how to take a proper shot using short Depth of Field - you know,
the blurry effect you can have on backgrounds.

Heres how I did it with my G2:
  • goto AV mode
  • zoom the lens all the way out
  • change the apature to 2.5 (or as low as it will go)
  • take pic of subject relatively close up.
  • vioila! blurry background!!!!
isn't photography great!!! trying doing that on a Point and Shoot!!
:-))

Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
--
-Jack
==================
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Curr: Canon PowerShot G3
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Jason Hutchinson said:
Nothing like a good telephoto for some blur:
Click to expand...
Jason Hutchinson said:
Click to expand...
Jason,
I hate trying to speculate... but...

I was just wondering how and with what you shot the duck shot with. I have yet to ever see that short of a depth of field from any Gx camera. It looks like a 35mm with a 300 2.8. If you are getting that shallow with a Gx, are you using a 2x adapter lens?

I hate to say it looks photoshopped but the foreground focus looks a bit unatural for a Gx camera and mighty shallow. If you are getting this out of camera I would really like to know how! :)

Cheers,
Zack Arias
Atlanta, GA

http://www.usedfilm.com
 
DOF is effected by...

Aperture
Focal Length
Camera to Subject distance

A telephoto lens will give you less DOF. A wide angle lens will give you more DOF. Egg is right, get close to the subject and zoom all the way in. The other poster is sort of right saying this compacts the perspective, making the background larger in the image and more noticable, but the biggest plauge of the Gx cameras and those in the same class, are they have deep DOF even at 2.0 in comparison to the same Focal length on a 35mm format.

Cheers,
Zack Arias
Atlanta, GA

http://www.usedfilm.com
 
for a newbie like me (and im sure theres others here), learning to use DOF in your photos can provide a whole different world to play in! I'm gonna be happy if I can take photos of my wife and kid and blur the background... looks like I can :-)

(remember, prior to this, I used a cheap P.A.S and then the IXUS V3. On both I could never get a DOF effect(perhaps not knowing the tricks), so for me, this is all very exciting!!)

Tonight I'll take some more photos from the same position, just to compare settings. If they come out interesting, I'll post'em.

One question - will a bounce flash make any difference to do photo I took? Will the DOF effect change in any way with a bounce from a 420EX for example?
 
Egg said:
One question - will a bounce flash make any difference to do photo
I took? Will the DOF effect change in any way with a bounce from a
420EX for example?
Click to expand...
Use of flash will not affect DOF. Bouncing it will illuminate the background further and possible making the background more noticable, but it will not change any focus quality in regards to DOF.

Have fun! Glad you are getting that 420ex. Wish I got a commission check with it! :)

Cheers,
Zack Arias
Atlanta, GA

http://www.usedfilm.com
 
Marc Jutras said:
Didn't you mean "...changing to tele..." in the first sentence? It
would make more sense and would fit the rest of your text.
Click to expand...
No, you can not shoot f/2.0 and full telephoto on any G1, G2, or G3 camera. DOF is inversely proportional to the subject magnification squared. This means you can ignore focal length (zoom) with a given framing of a subject.

I went on further to say that you will get a slightly blurrier image with a telephoto, despite having the SAME DOF. Think of it this way. Take a blurry tree in the background. Now enlarge it 200%. It's now blurrier to the eye. Telephoto lenses have this perspective distorting effect. I have some excellent 900mm shots of me in front of the sun to show this... ths sun is bigger than my whole head.

Jason
 
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