Two Photos for One Picture

Right after the sun set on New Year's Eve, I glanced out the window and spotted a single bird perched at the top of a tree with a sliver of moon in the background.

Because darkness had already set in, I needed the fastest shutter speed possible, which meant that my aperture (which controls the amount of light allowed through the shutter) had to be as large as possible (meaning the smallest possible Av number - it's inverse).

As mentioned in the blurry background post, a low Av number is used to achieve a blurry background effect. The further away the background is from the subject, the blurrier it will be. In this case, the moon was quite a distance behind the bird and therefore quite blurry.



Since I actually wanted the moon to be in focus in my final image, I took a second shot, this time focusing on the moon, ignoring the fact that the bird and tree would come out blurry.



Armed with my two separate images and Photoshop, I copied the in-focus moon from the second shot and pasted it on top of the blurry moon in my first shot with the in-focus bird. I adjusted the levels and changed the hue of the image to a lovely evening blue. The image is named "Awaiting the New Year".

The Gingerbread House

I just had to share this photo of last month's gingerbread house. It makes me feel all warm and Christmas-y just looking at it.



This is another good example of that blurry background effect. Here's what I did:

1. Set my aperature (Av) setting to its lowest numeric setting (around 4.0 for me)


2. Zoomed in as far as the telephoto would allow


3. Moved myself around to fit the house and tree in the frame


4. Focused on the house, pressed the shutter button halfway down and held it while I framed the shot, then continued to press it all the way down to take the photo

Getting that Blurry Background Effect in your Photos

There are two elements working together when you take a photo: 1) how long the shutter is open for [shutter speed], and 2) how wide the shutter is open [aperture].

If you take two pictures in identical circumstances, you can take one with the shutter wide open and a quick shutter speed and you can take the other picture with the shutter open a very little bit and for a longer shutter speed. Controlling the aperture is what will get you that blurry effect you're looking for, but understand that it needs to be paired with the appropriate shutter speed.

Most digital cameras nowadays have two sets of settings: one set consists of little icons and the second set have letters such as Tv and Av. Tv allows you to control the shutter speed and Av allows you to control the aperture. You will only control one element and the camera will adjust accordingly to balance lighting with the other element.

First, the subject that you want to be in focus should be fairly close to you (within 5') and the background you want to be blurry should be at least 10' behind the subject.



Select the Av setting and you should see an "F" followed by a number such as 2.8, 3.2, 4.0, 6.3, 8.0, etc. Select the lowest number you can, zoom in as far as your zoom will allow, focus on your subject, and check the shutter speed displayed. In general, you don't want to have a shutter speed any slower than 1/60th to avoid your subject being blurry, but if you have a steady hand, you may be able to get away with 1/30th.

By the way, use this technique when there's enough natural light and you don't need flash. Flash won't reach far enough to light up your background, so the background may be blurry, but you won't be able to see it!