Digital question

[bskts4bj]

I'd like to take a picture where the foreground of the picture is out of focus and the background is in focus. I know it's got to do with aperature right? How do I set it?? I want a picture of the local high school, but I really don't want the parking lot/lamp posts/garbage recepticals to be in focus.

TIA!!
Brenda

 

[dr_zero]

I'd like to take a picture where the foreground of the picture is out of focus and the background is in focus. I know it's got to do with aperature right? How do I set it?? I want a picture of the local high school, but I really don't want the parking lot/lamp posts/garbage recepticals to be in focus.

TIA!!
Brenda

Let see if I have this right the school building is behind the parking lot and post and you want the building to be sharp but the rest not, correct?

With a larger aperture the up close will be sharp and the back will be soft and with the smaller aperture the image will be pretty sharp all the way through.

So maybe a spot filter to soften the edges of the image where you dont want to be so in focus?
http://www.photoaxe.com/center-spot-filters/

Just had another thought what about a vaseline filter if you dont have a spot filter.
For a vaseline filter you put some on a spare UV filter and wipe it off some to soften the image or you can paint it on in the areas you want to soften.
http://www.cuephoto.com/tip_tech/tips.shtml

 

[MICKEY88]

With a larger aperture the up close will be sharp and the back will be soft
http://www.cuephoto.com/tip_tech/tips.shtml

this is true only if you focus on what is up front, if you focus on the school it should be sharp and objects at a certain distance in front or in back will be out of focus..

 

[dr_zero]

this is true only if you focus on what is up front, if you focus on the school it should be sharp and objects at a certain distance in front or in back will be out of focus..

Cool beans! Can you tell I need my coffee still LOL

 

[thomas998]

set the camera to aperture priority... set the lowest number possible... now set the camera for manual focus... focus on the stuff in the background... take a picture... you can probably over focus a little (focus a little further back than what your in focus subject is)... but the amount of blur you have will be dictated by the speed of your lens... if its a point and shoot you won't be able to get a load of blur, but you should get some.

 

[jann1033]

don't know what camera you are using but some have a dof button(mine is on the body by my lens below the flash button) when you press it you get an idea of what will be in and out of focus in your photo..
also if you want the center focused and the outer edges not, you can always do a light vignette in post processing..lightroom has the feature( post crop something, the very last thing in the right hand develop column), as do some free programs. that way even if the outer edges are actually in focus they aren't obvious since they look faded..xero and optikVerve labs are 2 freebies