How to Get Shallow Depth of Field in Your Photos

In many cases, a shallow depth of field in a portrait is a great way to highlight your subject and to get rid of distractions present in the background. There are several ways in which you can achieve a shallow depth of field in your photos. Here are some tips that will help you with this.

1. Positioning of Subject

One simple thing to do in order to get shallow depth of field in your photos is to position the subject as far away from the background as possible. If your subject is standing in front of a wall you will most likely end up with the wall in focus regardless of what you are trying to do. However, if the subject is standing very far away from the wall, it is going to be a lot blurrier.Shallow Depth of Field

2. Portrait Mode

You can use the portrait mode on your camera to get the same effect. This mode will do most of the hard work for you because it automatically selects a large aperture which will make the depth of field smaller.

3. Aperture Priority Mode

If you want something a little more difficult you can choose the aperture priority mode. This mode will let you choose the aperture and will let the camera do the rest for you. This semi-auto mode is a good way to control your depth of field and it will make sure all your images will be exposed just right. Choose a large aperture if you want a very shallow depth of field and blurry backgrounds. Experiment a bit with shots at different apertures to see exactly how these settings will affect the objects in the background.

4. Zoom Lenses

If you are using a 18-55mm lens it will have an aperture of maximum f3.5 at 18mm and f5.6 at 55. If you use the 18mm end of range because you think this is best for blurred backgrounds, you might face issues. 18mm is a wide angle and this means that for portraits you will have to get really close to the subject and this will distort the facial features.

For me, shooting at 55mm is the best way to go. You will be able to stand further away from your subject and push the background away from the camera. You will still be able to get blurry backgrounds in your shots if you use the fastest aperture.

5. Get a New Lens

This isn’t a very good solution if you’re on a budget, but it is the easiest. Different types of lenses have different apertures. The lenses with larger apertures are called faster and one of the advantages of having this kind of lens is that you will be able to make the depth of field a lot smaller. Another advantage of using a fast lens is that you will be able to snap great images even in darker environments without having to use a flash. A great fast lens is a 50mm f/1.8 lens. This is a very fast lens and it has a great focal length that comes in handy when shooting portraits.

So there you have it. This was our list of 5 tips on how to get shallow depth of field in your photos.

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