A1 and DOF

Lloyds

Lloyds

Active member
I am shooting my talent about 8-10' away from the camera. 3-4' behind the talent is a rough background (a large curtain/blinds with no light behind). I want to focus on the subject but have the background go unfocused. Is this possible at these distances? The subject will be at different shots (head close up, chest up, and waist/knees up). Everything I have tried so far keeps the talent focused and the background pretty well focused too. :(

Thanks for any of your suggestions!
 
To get the DOF you are looking for, you'll need to move the camera father away from the subject and then zoom in on the subject. Play around with the distance from the subject until you get the framing and amount of blur on the background you are looking for. Short of getting an expensive 35mm adaptor and lenses, that is pretty much the only way to do it effectively. Making sure your subject it well lit is also helpful.
 
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For a more shallow DOB, try placing your camera as close to your subjects as you possibly can while keeping them in focus. That is to say, if you move the camera any closer the subject goes out of focus.

Keep in mind that for group shot it's a bit more difficult. For a single, not so.

Once done, that should blow the b.g. out of focus.

--msg
 
Also - remember to keep the iris open as much as possible. Getting the f-stop around 2.0 will make a big difference vs. 5.6 or something like that. This is a lot easier to do inside with a light kit than outside where you have little to no control over the amount of light.

I find I need about 20 feet or so of space between the subject and BG to get something pleasing. Even then, those little CCDs like to keep more in focus than I like.
 
you need to flip the distances you stated!!!

01) Open up iris meaning you are gonna compromising the full zoom XH A1 can get you to 1.8 at full zoom out but if you zoom in around 25% you can still get something like ~2
02) Get your subject closer to the camera ... and far away from you background ...
03) If you want to take different takes with different picture sizes .. you can move phisicly with out moving the subject .... try to treat your lens as a fixed prime lens ... and don't zoom ...
 
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