“When you’re taking a picture a big mistake a lot of new photographers make is that they’re concentrating so much on the subject in their photo that they don’t look at the entire image” – Photographer David Bergman from AdoramaTV shares his quick tips for the control of the background blur.
“It’s incredibly important to control your background because it helps guide the viewer and tells them where to look. In another tip I talked about using prime lenses to throw your background out of focus using prime lenses. it’s certainly one of the best ways to do it but what happens if you don’t have one of those fast lenses? For this shoot I’m using a full frame body gear but even most basic DSLR cameras come with some type of a zoom lens.”
“If you take a picture while standing close to your subject and your lens zoomed all the way out – your background is going to be pretty clear.”
“Sometimes that’s the look you want, but if you really want to make your subject pop off the image why don’t you try to zoom in your lens as far as it goes and then back up your body until your subject is framed how you want. If you can, have them fill the frame as much as possible.”
“You will really start to see a big difference in the background. Of course, the longer the zoom you have the more the background is going to go out of focus. This even works with point-and-shoot cameras as most of them have some kind of a good zoom built-in. You still want to shoot at the largest aperture possible and if you can shoot with a full frame body with a large sensor that will help as well. One other thing you can do is pull your subject away from the background a little bit more because the further the distance away from the background the more it’ll will go out of focus.”
“So next time you’re shooting something – zoom in as much as you can while backing your body up so that your subject still fills the frame. This will make your background go out of focus and your subject will just jump off the image right into your lap.”
*For more information visit AdoramaTV YT page, and of course you can keep up with David on Instagram and Twitter @DavidBergman. LATEST UPDATE: David opened up new IGTV episodes where you can ask him questions live! find out more at http://www.AskDavidBergman.com
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Watch the full episode with David Bergman and Adorama TV: