Photo Mastery Club Blog

A common question I’ve received over the years is “how to I get a blurry background in my photos?”.

The answer sounds more complicated than it is, when you put it into practice.

To break it down as concisely as I can, there are two main factors you have to consider:

1. The area of focus (i.e. the depth of field).
2. The distance between the subject and it’s background.

The area of focus is the distance in front of and behind the subject that will appear sharp in the photo. It is determined by the combination of Aperture, Focal Length, and Distance To Subject.

So to make the background blurry, you just have to make sure it’s outside the area of focus.

Then, the amount of blurriness is determined by just how far the background is behind the subject.

Here’s a screenshot from a course video which helps visualise this:

This screenshot is from a course I creatively named “How To Get More Shots In Focus”.

The course covers this all in much more detail, along with examples and scenarios, lessons on focus modes, focus points, focus stacking, and more.

The only place the it is available is inside my Photo Mastery Club membership.

Click here to become a member now.

See you there

Steve

Let’s talk about camera gear.

I couldn’t guess what percentage of photography conversations revolve around gear, but I’d bet it’s high.

Of course there’s nothing wrong with enjoying that side of it, keeping up with the latest specifications and most up to date gear etc if that’s what folks like to do.

But there are a lot of photographers stuck in the middle getting caught up in “gear mania”, worrying about upgrading etc when they really don’t need to be.

Here’s when I think is a good time to upgrade:

When you reach the limits of what you’ve already got.

For example, my Canon 5D Mark II is 8 or 9 years old at this point.

The temptation to upgrade has been strong when the latest and greatest are announced every year or two…

But I’ve resisted.

Why?

Because I haven’t reached my cameras limits yet.

Sure, there are heaps of new cameras out now with more impressive dynamic range sensors, or with more megapixels etc. You know the story.

But I couldn’t care less about dynamic range.

99% of the time I photograph at sunrise or sunset, with my camera on a tripod. And a big chunk of that time I’m shooting multiple exposures anyway.

So when I’m thinking about upgrading, a question I ask myself is this:

“Would I rather spend $5K on a new camera with a couple more stops of dynamic range, or just capture an extra bracketed exposure and blend it in with the rest in Photoshop?”

Another is:

“Is a new camera going to make my photos $5k better than they are now?”

Probably not…

Because it comes down to the old-but-true cliche.

It’s not the gear, it’s what you do with it that counts.

To learn how to get the best out of the gear you’ve already got, click here.

Steve