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How to take pic with background out of focus?
- Thread starter Jasper
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rip18
Senior Member
It's going to be tough with that camera.
Three things contribute to separating the background from the subject: 1) aperture, 2) lens length, and 3) physical distance.
Aperture - the bigger/wider the aperture, the shallower the depth of field (allowing separation of in-focus subject and out-of-focus background). So shoot in aperture priority with your minimum aperture (which will be f/3.3 at your widest & f/6.4 when you are zoomed in with that camera).
Lens Length - longer lens lengths have shallower depths of field, so using your maximum optical zoom MAY help. It may not because that camera changes minimum apertures as it changes lens lengths (zoom). You'll have to play with the interplay of those two to see what works for you.
Physical Distance Part 1 - generally, the closer to the sensor, the shallower the depth of field. So fill the frame with the subject.
Physical Distance Part 2 - the greater the distance between the subject & the background, the less likely it will be in focus, and the easier it will be to "blur" the background. So having a subject on one side of a large field with the trees waaaaaay in the background makes it easy to blur the background.
All of those things are easier to do with a DSLR with a fixed aperture lens, than they are with a point-and-shoot with an incredibly short lens to start with, but adding in variable minimum aperture doesn't help. That's not saying that it can't be done, but there are a narrower range of conditions under which it can be done.
Good luck!
Three things contribute to separating the background from the subject: 1) aperture, 2) lens length, and 3) physical distance.
Aperture - the bigger/wider the aperture, the shallower the depth of field (allowing separation of in-focus subject and out-of-focus background). So shoot in aperture priority with your minimum aperture (which will be f/3.3 at your widest & f/6.4 when you are zoomed in with that camera).
Lens Length - longer lens lengths have shallower depths of field, so using your maximum optical zoom MAY help. It may not because that camera changes minimum apertures as it changes lens lengths (zoom). You'll have to play with the interplay of those two to see what works for you.
Physical Distance Part 1 - generally, the closer to the sensor, the shallower the depth of field. So fill the frame with the subject.
Physical Distance Part 2 - the greater the distance between the subject & the background, the less likely it will be in focus, and the easier it will be to "blur" the background. So having a subject on one side of a large field with the trees waaaaaay in the background makes it easy to blur the background.
All of those things are easier to do with a DSLR with a fixed aperture lens, than they are with a point-and-shoot with an incredibly short lens to start with, but adding in variable minimum aperture doesn't help. That's not saying that it can't be done, but there are a narrower range of conditions under which it can be done.
Good luck!
rip18
Senior Member
If you want to play around a bit with figuring that out online, you can use a depth-of-field calculator. Here is a good one: http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html
You'll have to select the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS20 off the dropdown, but it should be same as the ZS25 for those things...
You'll have to select the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS20 off the dropdown, but it should be same as the ZS25 for those things...
