Question
I have an Olympus 770SW compact digital camera, and in macro mode I can manage to achieve a blurred background, if the background is far enough away (over a metre). Can this be done when taking non-macro pictures, and if not, is there a way to simulate it?
Merged: How to blur the background using a super-zoom camera?
When I shoot portraits with my brother's Nikon D90, this is quite easy to fade out the background. But with my Fuji HS10, super-zoom camera, I haven't been able to take such photos yet. I choose a large aperture for my camera but it still doesn't work. I know that standing further and zooming will result in a smaller depth of field. Why DSLR cameras are so much better in this area? Why zooming make the depth of field smaller? What are the general recommendations to do the job using a super-zoom?
-- Moshen
Answer
There's a good answer from Brian Auer, which I'll reproduce here, as it pretty much covers the problem you're trying to solve:
Ooh, good question. Yes, but how much will depend on the camera.
If the camera has manual controls for aperture, that definitely helps. It also helps if the camera has zoom, as most P&S cameras do. The problem with creating a shallow depth of field comes from the fact that the sensor is so small, and as a result the lens is close to the sensor — thus creating very small focal lengths. My P&S has a focal length range from 6mm to 18mm — which is very small. They create an effective focal length much higher due to the small sensor size. As I said in the tips, a short focal length will produce an image with nearly everything in focus.
So to blur the background using a P&S, you’ll get your best results if you zoom in all the way, focus on something close (you don’t want to focus out to infinity), and have a background that is much further away. So your two points of control are focal length and subject distance. I just gave it a shot with my camera, and it does work.
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