depth of field

[randalcandari]

Hi everyone! I have a (stupid) question here, how do I get a shallow depth of field? I already tried setting the aperture to its widest but still the DOP is not shallow enough. I'm shooting portraits and I want the background to be as blurred as possible.
by the way I'm only using the kit lens on the XT since I'm just beggining to learn. what particular lenses give a shallow DOP?

Thanks.
-randal

[JaertX]

Bigger aperture, longer focal lengths will give the shallowest dof.

I'd suggest getting the 50 1.8

It's cheap and has very good optics...for the price of course. Well worth the 70 bucks

[RbrtPtikLeoSeny]

Ok, the kit lens I'm pretty sure gives you a f/3.5-5.6 right? Not shallow enough! Or, well, I guess not for your needs. So, my suggestion would be to go out and buy a 50mm f/1.8 that'll blur out that back ground completely, and it's only $75.00.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=12142&is=USA

Check that lens out. There's also a 50mm f/1.4 which would be even better, but 3 times the cost.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=12140&is=USA

There's also a pretty cheap 85mm f/1.8
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=12182&is=USA

So, those are just for starters. Look at them, consider them, they're all great focal lengths for portrait. Great starter lenses, cheap, good quality.

Another thing that affects DOF is how close you are to the subject by the way. The closer you get, the shallower the DOF is. You'll see that a lot in Macro shots of flowers and stuff where people get really close to the subject with the lens.

[randalcandari]

Ok thanks. I'll try and see if those lenses are available here. Very difficult to find those here, mostly we had to order outside and it takes a month to arrive.

[KevC]

The kit lens is fast enough. Aperature is the main thing to get a shallow DOF, but it isn't the *only* thing. Even at f/8 you can get a blurry background if you are significanly close to your subject, and the background is significantly far away.

The 50/1.8 is an awesome lens, but don't throw the kit lens away just yet. It's an amazingly versitile lens, and tack sharp at f/8. You can possibly compare this zoom to an L :), but for what it's worth, it's a very nice piece of "glass" (plastic? hehe).

[blinking8s]

[QUOTE=KevC]Even at f/8 you can get a blurry background if you are significanly close to your subject, and the background is significantly far away.
QUOTE]

distance from the subject and subject distance from the background have a great deal to do with it...

if you're actually going to be shooting remotely serious portraits I would suggest the 85 1.8 or 50 1.4 to start out with, 50 1.8 is a good lens for starters but I found it a poor investment for myself and just ended up upgrading before long

[condyk]

You can't go wrong buying the 50mm 1.8 for your 'starter' portraits and then trying it to see if it meets YOUR needs. If not, then sell it on. They go for close to retail prices SH and so you will lose little. If you have the extra cash then try the 50mm f1.4 which from sample shots I have seen does seem to offer a nice, smooth Bokeh beyond the f1.8 version.

See also here:

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/essays/bokeh.shtml

[Tom W]

Here's a cool site that includes a DOF simulator that somebody was kind enough to write. It's in Java:

http://www.liquidsculpture.com/dof.htm

[gasrocks]

DOf depends on 3 things: aperature you take the pix at (f/2 has a lot less DOF than say f/11,) focal length of the lens - longer lenses have less DOF, and working distance - closer = less DOF. Keep the background far away, shoot at smallest # f/stop you have with a long lens up close = shallow DOF with bkgnd out of focus.