Hi i am new to the world of DSLR cameras i have a Nikon D3300 i need help getting the blur background effect i have watched some tutorials on how to do so and haven't had any luck getting it to work i need some advice and help please.
I am using lens 18-55mm im using aperture priority mode focus mode AF-S using aperture F 3.5 and have tried different apertures and cant get the effect.
As others have pointed out, the concept you need to understand is
depth of field. You want the subject to be in focus, but background to be out of focus, so you want as shallow a depth of field as you can get.
Depth of field generally depends on these variables:
- The focal length of the lens. The longer the focal length, the shallower the depth of field.
- The aperture setting. The wider the aperture (the lower the ƒ number) the shallower the depth of field.
- The distance to the subject. The closer you are to your subject, the shallower the depth of field.
The 18-55mm that you have isn't really the best lens for this, but it is usable. You'll want to achieve a balance of having the lens zoomed to as long a focal length together with getting as close as you can to the subject, while still getting the subject to fit in the frame. And of course, have the aperture all the way open.
I've posted a couple of threads around experiments that I have done with a couple of my old lenses, using different aperture settings at the same distance from the same scene, to illustrate the effect of aperture on depth of field and general sharpness. You might find it useful to look at these two threads and try to understand what I was doing there: