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Question from Fawn: “I have my first maternity shoot on Sunday. It will be outside in the late afternoon at a local art gallery. I have a Nikon D5500 with 18-55 mm and 55-200 mm lenses. I have done kids shoots before, and the photos all came out a bit blurry. Are there some settings that I have wrong? What exposure and f-stop should I be shooting at to get that nice blurry backdrop?”
Johnny: You need faster glass. Get a fast prime lens. Maybe a 50 1.4 Also look into a 70-200 2.8. These are both great for portrait sessions.
Stacy: 2.8 should be a great f-stop number… and then set up your iso and shutter from there to get your correct exposure
Liz: If it’s a maternity shoot. You can go as low as 1/200 without having a blurry photo as your subject isn’t constantly moving like kids. The lower your shutter speed the blurrier your photos will be. For portraits I would suggest 50mm 1.4 or 1.8 if you can’t afford the 1.4. Sounds like you have the camera kit from costco and a d5100. Nikon doesn’t make d5500.
Hollie: If you want an out of focus backdrop for portraits, remember these three things:
1. get close to your subject
2. increase the distance between your subject and the background
3. use the largest aperture possible (the lowest number f-stop your lens allows)
If your subjects are always blurry, these are common problems:
1. your auto focus is focusing on something other than your subject
2. you are using manual focus, but need new glasses or need to change your optical settings if you shoot with your glasses off
3. you are using the wrong f-stop for the distance between you and the subject, so the subject is falling in the “blur-zone” and not the “focus-zone”
4. you or the subject is moving and your shutter speed is too slow (keep the shutter speed above 1/60 to minimize motion blur and camera shake)
5. don’t drink caffeine before a shoot, if it makes you shake
Amanda: You definitely need a prime lens. I love my 50mm. I have been able to get tack sharp images at f/2.8 with a group of four with it. The zooming capabilities of the lenses you are shooting with add camera shake, as does the weight of them. A prime lens at a set focal length (not a zoom lens) with help with that because its way lighter as well. You may also try using a tripod or increasing your shutter speed to 1/100 or more. I try and keep my shutter above 1/250 whe possible.
Danie: Shoot at a faster speed. 1/60th or higher.
Ilona: You will be able to achieve a blurry background with the lens you have. Chuck the 55-200 zoom on and have it at its longest focal length. As Hollie said keep a good distance between the background and the subject. Saving and investing in some good glass will help you for future shoots. As far as f stop and shutter speed go no one can guess that until you are on location and metering for light. I would try and keep my shutter speed at 1/200 or above with the zoom. As its a kit lens you will need to adjust you ISO because you can’t get your f stop low enough. Google the triangle of exposure so you understand what you need to do to expose properly. Good luck!
Victoria: The blurry background is all about your lens’ ability to get a low enough aperture (fstop). It also involves the distance between your subject and the background. The closer the background the higher (aka smaller number) your aperture setting should be. But again it depends on how low of an fstop your lens is capable of too.
Brian: First and foremost lets get some terminology going here. The blurry backdrop is called bokeh; and that is the part of the picture that is out of focus. The area in focus is called Depth of Field (DoF). Depth of field is controlled by your Aperture. The larger the aperture the shallower your Depth of Field. Likewise; the smaller the aperture the longer your depth of field.
Shutter speed controls stop motion and motion blurring. The faster the shutter speed; the more likely you will have stop motion; and the slower the shutter speed the more likely you will have blurring.
Both Shutter and Aperture control the exposure of your shot. However sometimes you will need to have both your shutter speed and aperture at a specific setting and you won’t be able to take the shot because there is not enough light. What you can then do is boost your ISO; which makes your sensor more sensitive to light; at the cost of making your pictures a bit more grainy.So to the original poster; you will also need to have a solid understanding of what shutter, aperture and iso does to your pictures. But you also have to understand your equipment.
The 18-55 kit lens has a aperture range of 3.5-5.6. Which means at 18mm, your maximum aperture can be 3.5; while at 55 your maximum aperture can be 5.6.
Also your 55-200 has an aperture of 4-5.6; So at 55 you can get f4, and at 200 you can be at 5.6.
Now this is why lenses can get so expensive. Look at a 24-70 2.8. Across the full focal point range you can achieve a maximum aperture of 2.8
Likely so 2.8 is also almost a full Fstop of light greater than your 18-55. Letting in more light can mean that you can shoot at faster shutter speeds without having to boost your iso.
Richard: errm there’s no such camera as a D5500???
Kimberly: the 5100?
Meaghan: Had to be the bad guy but … perhaps you shouldn’t be offering a shoot until you sort out your work a bit.
Vicky: Totally love your advice Brian Leong!
Fawn: The shoot is for my brother and sis in law, who would not have them made, otherwise. I’m really good with a camera, but don’t remember the technical stuff from college, and shooting digital is a lot different from developing it yourself in a darkroom. (15 or so years ago)
Sue: put the setting to AV56 FOR the blurry background
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