Less DOF with an A700?

[AdamW]

Hey folks--

I'm trying to take some portraits with a shallow depth of field. I know as a point & shoot the A700 has limitations, but what can I do to maximise what I have? What settings would you suggest?:confused:

I know that larger aperture means less DOF, but I don't want to take a portrait at the widest angle--moderate zoom distorts less, but requires a smaller aperture.

I've tried experimenting with various combinations of zoom, ISO, and aperture in Av mode. And I've tried the "Portrait" setting, but I'm not pleased with the results. Any ideas?

Thanks--

Adam

[BowerR64]

Are you trying this indoors or outdoors?

Its gona be hard because as you use toom the apature closes down and with a small apature the DOF gets really wide (more of the image and background is in focus) macro is one way to do it but im not sure how far out you can get with macro. I think it has a limit of about 2 feet. That maybe a bit close.

use the full 6X zoom then move back till the shot is composed right. The further the background is away from the subject the more it will blurr.

Create a fake background that is blurry from the begining, lol thats what i did, it could be neat if you create a good background.

[BowerR64]

Here is the first fake background i made and tried but the background is way to blurry. I took the image in macro mode and printed it.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y191/BowerR64/Junk/FakeDOF.jpg

Then i made one larger not quite as blurry, i painted it with clear gloss krylon paint and then glued it to foamboard from walmart. I then took some cabnet simulated wood grain and put it on another foamboard and cut it so it looks like a round table.

I think it looks neat.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y191/BowerR64/Junk/Fakehouse.jpg

And this is how it looks when i shoot with it all setup.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y191/BowerR64/Camera/edit/Faketable.jpg

This is shot indoor with an A610 with a slave flash bounced off the ceiling.

[AdamW]

Thanks, Bower. If only my hands were steadier (or the A700 had IS) then I'd use the full zoom more often.

I'm trying to do portraits outdoors, handheld.

By the way, the "table" looks totally real!

Adam

[BowerR64]

Use a tripod or a monopod, they can help alot. Or you can get a little beanbag, or a kickbag and sit the camera on somthing and use the timmer. You have to be creative sometimes with photography. Sometimes the most simple things can work the best and result in the best pictures.

The A700 is a good camera stick with it you will figure it out. I have an A700 also, its in the shop right now or ide do some testing with it for ya.

[BowerR64]

The settings do kinda matter because you have to adjust the other values if you open or close the apature, you need to readjust the shutter and ISo to compensate.

I took this with my A700, the background is about 100 yards away. Not sure how much zoom i used.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y191/BowerR64/Camera/A700burn.jpg

This is with the A610, again not sure how much zoom but the B?G is the same distance.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y191/BowerR64/Camera/A610Leafs.jpg

canon A540
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y191/BowerR64/Camera/A540macro.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y191/BowerR64/Camera/DOFportraitmode.jpg

[Forced Perfect]

Hey folks--

I'm trying to take some portraits with a shallow depth of field. I know as a point & shoot the A700 has limitations, but what can I do to maximise what I have? What settings would you suggest?:confused:

I know that larger aperture means less DOF, but I don't want to take a portrait at the widest angle--moderate zoom distorts less, but requires a smaller aperture.

I've tried experimenting with various combinations of zoom, ISO, and aperture in Av mode. And I've tried the "Portrait" setting, but I'm not pleased with the results. Any ideas?

Thanks--

Adam

There are two things to do if you want to get the shallowest DOF.

Firstly use Av mode and set the lowest number (widest) and second use full zoom. Those two things will give you the best blurring and shallowest DOF you can get on your camera.

If you just want the thinnest DOF using wide angle will allow for a wider aperture but without the telescopic compression gained from using max zoom the background won't blur nearly as much. But you never seem to get as nice a blur as from a dSLR. Even using f/4.5 and 200mm (photo below) you can get much more out of a dSLR in terms of background blur and DOF control.

http://static.flickr.com/75/201327660_f9c12baaf0_d.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/forcedperfect/201327660/in/set-72157594274275230/)

[BowerR64]

There are two things to do if you want to get the shallowest DOF.

Firstly use Av mode and set the lowest number (widest) and second use full zoom. Those two things will give you the best blurring and shallowest DOF you can get on your camera.

If you just want the thinnest DOF using wide angle will allow for a wider aperture but without the telescopic compression gained from using max zoom the background won't blur nearly as much. But you never seem to get as nice a blur as from a dSLR. Even using f/4.5 and 200mm (photo below) you can get much more out of a dSLR in terms of background blur and DOF control.

http://static.flickr.com/75/201327660_f9c12baaf0_d.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/forcedperfect/201327660/in/set-72157594274275230/)


That looks good.

[AdamW]

Thanks for all the help folks. There's a lot that I really like about the A700, and I plan to keep it. But my birthday's coming in a few months and I'm starting to think about which DSLR to get myself. Of course, unless we get my daughter a Canon P&S for Christmas, if I get a DSLR she'll "borrow" my A700 and I'll never see it again. Then again, I could always give it to her right now and get myself the A710....:rolleyes:

[BowerR64]

But see i was confused about DOF for about 6 months before i finaly got it. When i talked about DOF then i tied DOF with the blur in the background. When i said i wanted more DOF i ment i wanted a narrow DOF and i was toatly confused how it all ties together. Then i found a site that has a chart that toatly helped me grasp what it means and how it works.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y191/BowerR64/Camera/DOF.jpg

Now it all makes sence to me.

Whats hard with P&S cameras is the apature is really open wide, but then it closes down so much as it zoom that its hard to get a narrow DOF when you zoom. Why does it do that? i hate that.