In thinking through what to write about next for an FAQ post, I’ve been trying to remember what the questions were that I had when I first started getting into photography. I was reminded recently of a question I am often asked and something that I don’t think most beginning photographers know about– how do you get that “blurry” background in pictures?

If you don’t know what I mean, take a look at the picture below…

{Image settings: f/2.0, 1/500, ISO 200}

See how the subject’s face is in focus, but as you get further from her face it becomes “blurry” or out of focus. This is something called bokeh, and was done on purpose in this instance in order to immediately draw your attention to her face. When you first looked at the image you probably focused right on her eyes (where I focused my camera) and then panned out from there.

The simplest answer as to how to create this on your own is with the right lens. Without trying to sound too technical, bokeh is created with a lens that has a wide aperture. An aperture is a hole or opening through which light travels. If an aperture is narrow, then more parts of your picture will be in focus, if not all. If an aperture is wide, then there will be sharp focus for a certain focal length, as with the above picture. The measure of an aperture is known as the “f-stop,” and is written as f/2.8, f/4.5, f/22, etc. You would just say “f 2.8” if you were talking about an aperture of 2.8.

Here is another example of a photo with a wide aperture:

{Image settings: f/1.4, 1/1000, ISO 100}

So what f-stop do I need to get bokeh?? Well, that depends on your distance from the subject and the distance of the background from the subject. If I am just shooting 1-2 people (i.e. an engagement session or senior shoot) I like to shoot pretty wide open whenever possible. If you notice in the two photos above the f-stop was at 2.0 and 1.4 respectively. Basically, the lower the number, the wider the aperture. My favorite portrait lens is my 50mm 1.4, which means that the aperture can go all the way down to 1.4 (like in the photo above). You can get lenses that go all the way down to 1.2, but the lower you go, the higher the price.

To give you an idea, the kit lens that comes with most beginning digital SLR cameras (i.e. Canon Rebel or Nikon D-40) only goes down to about f/4.5. I would usually only have my aperture that high if I was shooting a bigger group of people or I wanted more things in my image in focus. In order to get more of the bokeh effect you would need to get a lens that has a wider aperture.

Here is an example of a picture where I wanted pretty much everything to be in focus:

{Image settings: f/13.0, 1/250, ISO 1600}

Notice that according to my image settings the f-stop or aperture was up at f/13.0. This allowed me to get the sky and the Cincinnati skyline in focus.

How much would a lens with a wide aperture cost? It ranges depending on the type of lens, but the one I always recommend to beginning photographers/moms-with-cameras is the 50mm 1.8, which will run you $100-$120 (Canon price, not sure how much the others cost). That lens would give you a lot of options with your aperture and you could definitely get bokeh in the 1.8-2.8 range, plus the lens is a nice small size. The 50mm 1.4 lens that I have is a little bit more pricey at $350 and the 50mm 1.2 is the most expensive at $1450-$1500. Note that these are all prime lenses, which means that the focal length is fixed at 50mm and does not zoom in and out. I work with both types of lenses, although I am beginning to grow more attached to prime lenses!

All of this is not to say that you can’t take a great picture without a specific lens. I used the kit lens that came with my Canon Rebel XS for about the first year I had it and the pictures I took during that time are just as special to me. Pictures have always been about the memories for me, so even if your picture isn’t “perfect” it can still have a lot of meaning!

I hope this was helpful and not too confusing! If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments section and I will do my best to give you a good answer. Also, if you have any questions about photography that you would like to see in a future FAQ post, leave that in the comments section as well!

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