selective focus
What affects background blur?The following aspects majorly affect the blurriness of background clutter:
- Aperture - Specified by an f-value or f-stops. Larger apertures have smaller f-values, and allow more light to reach the camera sensor. When using a large aperture, the shutter speed should be faster, to prevent the photo from being over-exposed. The lower the f-value, the softer the background blur.
- Distance from your subject - Moving closer to and focusing tightly on your subject, ensuring the background is far away from your subject, makes it easier to to achieve a blurred background.
- Focal length - A short focal length has a wide angle of view, it keeps details in focus both in the foreground and the background. Zooming in on a subject narrows the angle of view and makes the focal length longer, resulting in more background blur. To blur the background, use a long focal length lens, or a good variable focus length lens and zoom in on your subject.
- Sensor size - A small sensor has a short focal length and wide angle of view. Cameras with larger sensors can achieve longer focal lengths, and subsequently better background blur.