Blurry Background Photography Tips – The Crafting Chicks

A NICE BLURRY BACKGROUND, AHHH.

Does your brain start to spin when you start talking about ISO, shutter speed, and aperture? Not to fear, my friends! It is really quite simple. You just need to take it piece by piece and understand each term. So lets talk a bit about aperture, shall we?

When you adjust the aperture on your camera you are adjusting the amount of light that is coming into your camera through your lens but you are also adjusting the amount of blurriness in your photo. (If you are reading this and thinking…aperture? I never adjust my aperture because I have my camera set on auto…tisk, tisk. It’s time to get it off auto! ) An example of a small aperture is f/22 (“small” referring to the opening of the lens) whereas an example of a very large aperture is f/1.8. (I know it sounds like that should be switched around but stay with me…)

A large aperture (small number, ie: f/1.8) = lots of blur, a small plane of focus

A small aperture (large number, ie: f/16) = less blur, a large plane of focus

Let’s take a look at some examples:

See the range in background blur?

As you can see, having a very small aperture of f/11 gave me a wider focal plane thus making more of my picture in focus. Whereas having a very large aperture of f/1.8 or f/2.8 gave me a narrow focal range thus making more of my picture blurry.

There you have it, now go out there and take some blurry background photos!

If there is anything I can do to support you, please let me know. Keep capturing your memories!Warmly,
~Katie