rpavich Loc: West Virginia

That's most likely because you don't have a lens that will go to f/2.8.

Are you using the kit lens that came with the camera?

If you are, then you are most likely limited to f/3.5 and up.

You can STILL get decent blur from that set up.

You have to be close to the subject, and the subject has to be far away from the background.

For reference (this is according to Bryan Peterson):

f/1.4-f/5.6
Shallow DOF for isolating subjects

f/8-f/11
The "who cares" middle of the road apertures

f/16-f/32
The "Story telling" aperture; sharp from front to back to show the interaction of the various elements; foreground, middleground, background.



Check the online depth of field calculator to see what options you have with your set up.

bonniekr Loc: Upper Peninsula of Michigan

Thank you. I want to get this in my head so I can get involved with my camera and take some decent pictures.

Some of my pics of my favorite flowers

bonniekr Loc: Upper Peninsula of Michigan

Your absolutely correct I am using the lens that came with the camera. So what kind of lens should I buy to have more options to chose from as far as F/stops?

MtnMan Loc: ID

Your photos are very nice.

Most lenses go from the minimum f-stop printed on the lens up to f22 or more. It would only be an issue for you if you need to take photos in dim light and don't want to up the ISO to do it.

BTW, it is "depth OF field". It means how much of the distance in front of you will be in focus.

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

Well..that's a very open ended question.

You CAN work within your current limitations on f/stops and get a decent blur. It's a matter of distance to the subject/distance to the background/fstop used.

If you use the lowest f/stop your lens will do at 55mm which is 5.6

Then if your subject is 10 feet away the depth of field will be from 9 feet to 11 feet.

2 feet will be in focus.


Just make sure that you have at least 3 or 4 feet behind your subject when shooting at 10 feet distance.

Does that make sense?


If you wanted a cheap lens that would do good blur and is a great lens the 50mm f/1.8 is about 100.00 and is an outstanding lens for this kind of thing, and all around shooting.

GordonB. Loc: St. Petersburg, Fl.

Simple, clean up all the stuff in the background.

SteveR Loc: Michigan

Does your camera have a depth of field preview button or lever? If so, this would be a great way to learn about dof. You can actually see the change through the viewfinder as you change aperture. With digital you can actually take photos and download them to the computer to see the difference.

Set your camera in aperture mode priority and look at the same scene from the largest aperture through the smallest. First take a look through you dof preview button. Then take a photo at each aperture. You should see how aperture makes a difference in dof by the time you're finished.