Portrait setting on S2 IS...I give up!

Ok, for a week I have been trying to figure out the portrait setting on my camera and I can't get it to work....Everything is always in great focus instead of the subject being focused and background being blurred. What am I doing wrong?

lower the f-stop and put more distance between the subject and background.
4-7 feet behind might be needed.

strmrdr wrote in post #2354701
lower the f-stop and put more distance between the subject and background.
4-7 feet behind might be needed.

I don't think you have control over the f-stop in portrait mode. I don't have my camera with me to test this right now. The other recommendation about having some distance between your subject and the background is good advice. Give that a try. I tried portrait mode once and I must have gotten really lucky with my results. I filled most of my screen with my nieces head and the background was quite a way behind her and it turned out beautifully. Don't give up yet, you will get it.

Thanks for the encouragement. Still no luck on the Portraits..I'll keep trying, but I can change the ISO, F stop and Exp I layed in bed last night and changed one setting at a time and took pictures of something across from me so I could compare them all with the different settings. (Okay, so I'm a little obsessed wtih my new camera...)

mommytomjm wrote in post #2354679
Ok, for a week I have been trying to figure out the portrait setting on my camera and I can't get it to work....Everything is always in great focus instead of the subject being focused and background being blurred. What am I doing wrong?

According to the S1 manual the Portrait setting: I know you are using the S2, hopefully no difference

You can achieve a better blurring effect of the
background by making sure the upper half of your
subject fills the entire LCD monitor (or viewfinder).

You can enhance the blurring effect of the
background even more by setting the lens to its
telephoto end setting.


You also cannot change any settings (shutterspeed, f/stop)

you might try extending your minimum focus distance. I noticed, when I had the S3, that it would take the shot, but if I was too close to my subject, the subject would be blurry and the background would be sharp. You can't change many of the functions in those modes. The only other way you can get the settings you want is to switch to AV mode, set the aperture to 2.8 (this will blur the background nicely) and focus on your subject. You'll still have to make sure you are far enough away not to have the camera swich focus points (not adjustable) on you....

try doing headshots at right around 7x or 8x. It'll help you get a better understanding of how to achieve the best bokeh.

I dont know if this will help but here is a shot I did that has a blurred background (bokeh)

I agree with permagrin, ditch the portrait setting and use av mode. As long as you use your zoom to fill the frame with your subject and have them sitting at least 1-2 metre away from your background (more if you can). Use f2.8, f3.5 you should get a beautiful blurry background

Permagrin wrote in post #2357567
I noticed, when I had the S3, that it would take the shot, but if I was too close to my subject, the subject would be blurry and the background would be sharp.

Oh man, know I know why some of my recent shots did this!

Well, I did it! I did it inadvertantly, but I did it...I took a series of pictures of a hawk on a pole at Animal Kingdom and when I started to review the photos tonight I discovered this....

Byte size: ZERO | Content warning: NOT AN IMAGE

good for you! something that also will help you increase your blurred backgroun shots is to stand far enough away where yo9u can zoom all the way in on your subject, then you can focus on it and the backgroudn ususally will become blurred

Using some of the same advice as given on this thread, I have been able to get some great shots with blurred backgrounds.

non-macro mode picture.

i love the first one, very nice bokeh

The first one is great!!