A focusing question

Snappy McGhee

Hi everyone, newbie to the forum and already I need some help!

I love the photos that have been taken by the original poster in this thread, and was hoping to recreate the same kind of feel in my own photographs (in this case, pro wrestling as opposed to amateur) - in that the subject is in focus but the background is out of focus.

Searching online lead me to this, which is again very similar to the look that I wish to achieve, and very similar to the kind of action I would be shooting.

I'm currently shooting with a Olympus E510, with the 14-42mm lens and the internal flash, though I shall be picking up a flashgun in the upcoming months.

Hopefully, someone will be able to give me a couple of pointers, thanks in advance!

Art Scott

If you saw the data on the first photo the photog was shooting at f2......so with your E510 you will need to get into some really good glass to get that kind of DOF.....and since you're using a 2X crop camera that may be trickey....
If Jonathan Swinton see this he will be better at a lens suggestion for you as he is dyed in the wool OLY shooter....

Pupator

The term for that creamy, out of focus, background look is bokeh.

Essentially to get it you'll want to do something like this:

Shoot in A Mode
Set aperture to the lowest your lens has (hopefully 1.7, 2.8, or 3.5).
Make the distance between you and your subject shorter than the distance between your subject and your background.

I'll let others point you to threads that talk about this in more detail, but wanted to get you started at least.

Angelo

and Bokeh is familiar nomenclature for "Depth of Field"

study the technique here: http://www.amateursnapper.com/photography/depth-of-field-explained

Snappy McGhee

Angelo wrote:

and Bokeh is familiar nomenclature for "Depth of Field"

study the technique here: http://www.amateursnapper.com/photography/depth-of-field-explained

Awesome, thanks for all the help guys! Will check that link out.