focusing

[tomkat83]

hey, i hope this is in the right place. i just bought a digital camera the other day. it's the second camera i've owned. period. so i don't have alot of camera experience. anyhoo. i'm wanting to take a picture of a subject, say a person or an object approx 3-4 feet away. i want them to be in focus but i want the background to be out of focus. what's this called, how do i do it, how do i tell if my camera will do it? thanks in advance.

[crbhood]

You should be able to use the "portrait" mode

[Jeff G]

What you are talking about is depth of field. If you have manual settings on your camera you can go with a larger aperature and a faster shutter speed. The larger aperature will shorten the depth of field so backgrounds become out of focus.

[tomkat83]

thanks all for your feedback. i consulted my manual but it was no help. i figured out how to adjust the fstop. it has 2 settings f2.8 and f7.1. i set it to 2.8 and adjusted the shutter speed to about 1/30 or 1/45. it has some kind of light meter that shows -2 thru +2 when the shutter speed is 1/30 or 1/45 the light meter is at 0. i set the camera on a tripod about 2.5 to 3 feet away from the subject (a box with big lettering). the background is large lettering as well approx 7-8 feet behind the subject (so i can tell what the camera is focusing on. when i take the picture everything is still in focus.

[CDC]

Originally Posted by tomkat83

thanks all for your feedback. i consulted my manual but it was no help. i figured out how to adjust the fstop. it has 2 settings f2.8 and f7.1. i set it to 2.8 and adjusted the shutter speed to about 1/30 or 1/45. it has some kind of light meter that shows -2 thru +2 when the shutter speed is 1/30 or 1/45 the light meter is at 0. i set the camera on a tripod about 2.5 to 3 feet away from the subject (a box with big lettering). the background is large lettering as well approx 7-8 feet behind the subject (so i can tell what the camera is focusing on. when i take the picture everything is still in focus.

depending on the type of camera (or lense) that you have that may be the best that you can get. Try turning your shutter speed up a little faster if you can. That may help in blurring the background but it may also cause an underexposure of the picture in general. What kind of camera are you using?