My name is Brandy Fortune, and I design knit-wear for kids. I love Crème Brulée, Sci-Fi, 70 degree weather and reading a good book in bed. I spend my time knitting, sewing, taking pictures, co-editing the web-zine Petite Purls and raising my two daughters. This website chronicals my adventures in both parenthood and design.
Every once in a while I’ll be going through my day with the girls and “un-vent” some little trick I’m sure a 100 mothers before me, have also invented. I always think “I should blog that!” but I don’t. Well now I am even if I’m starting a little late.
I’ve seen lots of conversations on photography forums about how to get the blurry background (and fun arguments about the use of the word bokeh, which is a really fun word to say. I like to use it, a lot. Because its fun.)
These are the three ways in which you can achieve a blurry background:
F-Stop/Apature – wider like 2.0 and lower makes for very pretty effects
Smaller margin of error means more difficult to nail focus if you have not practiced a lot.
Auto users: Pop your camera into apature priority mode, which is about the same as auto accept you can control the f-stop/apapture and set it to its LOWEST which on an entry level DSLR and kit lens may be 3.0 – 4.5 (try zooming all the way out, and all the way in to see which zoom gets you the lowest setting, those lens’s lowest setting actually varies based on your zoom length at any given moment. Did that make sense? If not please comment!). You can still do this without being in manual!
Focal Length – 85mm + makes for pretty portraits
More dummy proof and unique looking but costs $$$ to get an 85mm lens (if you have a kit zoom lens zoom all the way IN then step back as needed and zoom with your FEET, keeping the camera zoomed all the way in, these tricks are funny aren’t they??)
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