hi.i'm just a beginner in photography. i recently bought a canon s3is. i'd like to get advice on getting a shallow depth of field.

i could'nt seem to get my desired outcome to have a subject in focus and blurr the background. i've tried setting the aperture at f.28, when i use the zoom the camera it turns to f 3.2. However, I still can't seem to blurr the background as compared to shots of dslr's with the same setting.

if anyone has an example of shallow depth of field using the s3is, can you please show me an example an how you did it

thanks.

Hey, Carlo.

Just curious, how far is the background to your subject?

hi raffy,

say the subject is 3ft. to 5ft. away from my cam and the background to the subject is around 3ft., will i get the blurred background effect or does the distance of the background to the subject have an effect on the level of blurr of the background?

thanks.

Hi, Carlo.

At 3 ft. away, you might not be able to get the blur effect that you want. Mainly because the background is close to your subject. Technically, the blur effect increases as the distance of the background / foreground increases.

Hope this helps.

ok thanks raffy!

I could be wrong, but I thought the blur effect increases as the distance of the background from subject increases and/or camera to subject distance decreases.

have you tried setting your camera at the telephoto-end? since the longer focal with larger aperture do produce a nice blurred background.

With a Canon S3IS where the sensor size is much smaller than that of DSLRs, it can be much more difficult to achieve that thin depth of field effect, even at the longest telephoto length. A detailed explanation of this can be found at:

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/dof.shtml

That sure explained to me why I couldn't do the same tricks on my old Coolpix 995, which was my biggest reason for upgrading to a DSLR. The depth-of-field control is just a lot less on a camera with a small sensor size. :)

With a Canon S3IS where the sensor size is much smaller than that of DSLRs, it can be much more difficult to achieve that thin depth of field effect, even at the longest telephoto length. A detailed explanation of this can be found at:

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/dof.shtml

That sure explained to me why I couldn't do the same tricks on my old Coolpix 995, which was my biggest reason for upgrading to a DSLR. The depth-of-field control is just a lot less on a camera with a small sensor size. :)
that's it bro. bokeh (blurred backgrounds) is a hallmark of SLR photography.

about the decrease in aperture opening when zooming, that's normal kasi your len's does not have a fixed aperture....for certain zoom lengths, you cam assigns a certain aperture value. normally, the longer you go, towards telephoto, the smaller your aperture becomes (bigger f number)....

you can see sa harap ng lens mo may aperture range... f/2.8 - 5.6 or something like that....

Try this. Try to fill your camera's frame with your subject, for this example the face of your model. Now, back up a step at a time till you see the background appearing into the frame. Your background should be blurred by now, if not, increase the distance between your model and the background, this will also help. Also, if your camera can be set to aperture priority mode, set it at the largest aperture(smallest f-number) possible with your IS.
The link below might help you understand how DOF and focal length relates to each other.

http://www.popphoto.com/howto/2245/whats-up-with-depth-of-field.html

if you really want to get that blurred look with your s3 cam, switch to macro mode, frame as closely as possible to the suject and try to have the background some distance away....

experiment...

The S3is is not a DSLR and please remember the 2.8 opening is not the same as 2.8 of DSLR. I'm not sure of the equivalent but your f/8 would be somewhere around f/16 equivalent already.

I read in a book by Bryon Peterson, Understanding Exposure, ata yung title, that f/2.8 for compact cams is often equivalent to f/11 in an SLR. You have an enormous amount of depth of field by default without sacrificing precious stops of light to get it. (I always felt na pag macro mode lang nagkakasilbi ang aperture priority sa coolpix ko non. :D) With an SLR, you have a lot of depth of field control, but you either have to have a lot of available light present to stop down, or you need a tripod so that you can use a very slow shutter speed to offset the small aperture opening.

Hope that helps in defining a key difference between the two types of cameras. :)

if you really want to get that blurred look with your s3 cam, switch to macro mode, frame as closely as possible to the suject and try to have the background some distance away....

experiment...

Using the macro mode helped alot when i was still using the Powershot A80.. all i had to do was switch to macro,focus on the subject and watch the background get blurred =b although it had a hard time focusing, medyo naghuhunt pa sya..

here's a few shots taken with the powershot a80 on macro mode, hope this helps! =)

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y127/technolustetp/bug.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y127/technolustetp/3lights.jpg

the bokeh (quality of the blurred background) isn't as nice as the high end DSLRs though, but it does the job =)

HTH =D

Using the macro mode helped alot when i was still using the Powershot A80.. all i had to do was switch to macro,focus on the subject and watch the background get blurred =b although it had a hard time focusing, medyo naghuhunt pa sya..

here's a few shots taken with the powershot a80 on macro mode, hope this helps! =)

the bokeh (quality of the blurred background) isn't as nice as the high end DSLRs though, but it does the job =)

HTH =D


walang imposible sa taong maabilidad...... :Grin:

walang imposible sa taong maabilidad...... :Grin:

coming from you Jay, i consider that an honour :Grin:

coming from you Jay, i consider that an honour :Grin:

si sir tok talaga!

for 2.5 years A70 lang camera ko. visited so many places and mountains with that little camera. but when im with dSLR shooters, i really envied that bokeh-ability. kaya mega research naman si inggitero me, pwede ba yun sa cam ko?

aba pwede naman pala!!! low quality nga lang! hehehehe. at least talagang nasulit ko yung cam bago sya napalitan.:)

Hehehehe! =) Same here Sir Jay =b bought the A80 in Singapore (John 3:16 at Funan if i'm not mistaken) learned photography on the fly, most of the time winging it nalang =b helped me alot to improve my crafts =) Michael Yamashita style! =D

By the way, weren't you planning some sort of climb with Norman?

Hehehehe! =) Same here Sir Jay =b bought the A80 in Singapore (John 3:16 at Funan if i'm not mistaken) learned photography on the fly, most of the time winging it nalang =b helped me alot to improve my crafts =) Michael Yamashita style! =D

By the way, weren't you planning some sort of climb with Norman?

yup. i told him baka he might want to do some outdoor photography. i really want to invite people from the forum to some wilderness adventure, pero im not sure if people have or can borrow basic gear for it (tents, bags, shoes). so much photography waiting out there!

paano kaya 'to?

OT: Ano favorite spots niyo pang outdoor photo trip? May plano ata dito for our office shutterbugs. :)

OT: Ano favorite spots niyo pang outdoor photo trip? May plano ata dito for our office shutterbugs. :)

hi angelo, please post this as a new thread. worthy naman to pagusapan eh. para di na OT. thanks. sige na post mo sagot ako agad.

Thanks sir Jay! New thread na. Hehehe :)

thanks everyone for sharing your wisdom! much appreciated and i'll try them out

Hi carlo,
I'm also xperimenting w/ my new S3IS (my old PSA80 has a "portrait" setting too and I just need to be a little bit far from the subject and zoom in for better effect w/ the background far enough)
and YES! Jay is correct, my "portrait" frustration wants me to upgrade to DSLR soon.
To cut this story short, move away and zoom in to ur subject (the farther the subject away from the background, the better the effect will be...)
"if I'm not mistaken"... correct me anyone?