Get Smooth Background Blur With Cheap Lenses

How to get smoothly blurred backgrounds from cheap telephoto zoom lenses.

Mmmmm . . . fresh, buttery smooth background blur anyone? I am often asked how I get the smoothly blurred backgrounds seen in my flower close-up photos. Like most of you, I use an inexpensive consumer level 55-250mm F:4 – F5.6 lens made by Canon (retails for around $200). It is similar to inexpensive telephoto zoom lenses typically in the 50-200mm to 70-300mm range, with a F3.5 maximum aperture or slower. Is it possible to obtain smoothly blurred backgrounds with this type of low-cost telephoto zoom lens? Or must you invest in an expensive pro quality lens with a wider (faster) maximum aperture (F1.8 – F2.5). Can you get smooth creamy background blur like the pros on the cheap?

Yes! You can have all the fresh brewed, creamy smooth backgrounds you desire without breaking the bank for a fast lens that will cost you close to $1,000 or more. The key is knowing what lens settings will give you the shallowest depth of field, and using them in your photos. Here is a general guide that applies to all inexpensively priced telephoto zoom lenses in the 50-300mm range.

3 Steps To Smoothly Blurred Backgrounds in Your Photos:

1. Zoom out to the maximum telephoto setting of your lens. In other words, if your lens has a maximum range of 300mm, zoom out to that range. Why? Depth of field decreases as you extend the lens to its maximum zoom setting. Smooth background blur comes from having a shallow depth of field. Thus, your subject is in sharp focus while anything behind (or in front of) your subject will be blurred. The more distance you have between your subject and the background, the softer and smoother the blur will be.

2. Place your subject at the minimum focusing distance for your lens. On my Canon 55-250mm lens that is about three feet. Any closer, and the lens will not focus sharply on the subject. The closer you are to that minimum focusing distance, the shallower your depth of field. This is critical to getting the smoothest possible blurred backgrounds in your close-up photos. When you are set at the maximum zoom range of your lens and the minimum focusing distance, you are at the apex where smooth background blur is best. Now you need to do one more thing:

3. Set your lens at one of it widest apertures and shoot! Start at the widest aperture (usually F3.5 or F:4). You should see the background blur in your viewfinder. Focus on the part of you subject that you want to be the sharpest, then shoot. You want to set your camera’s focusing system so that it uses a single point to focus (check you camera manual for directions). This will allow you to get critically sharp focus exactly where you want it. Generally, if any background elements are six inches or more behind the subject, they will be blurred (the greater the distance, the smoother the blur).

In the photo of a white lily above, I composed the image so that any background elements were at least 12 inches or more away from the foreground flower. I focused on the stamens and used the widest aperture, at full zoom (250mm on 55-250mm lens), at the closest focusing distance. This threw the background completely out of focus creating a beautiful blur of color.

Experiment with these settings a bit. With most inexpensive telephoto zoom lenses you may need to stop down 1 or 2 f-stops from maximum aperture for best subject sharpness. If you want more of your subject to be in focus, stop down the lens to a smaller aperture. However, the smaller the aperture the sharper the background becomes. With a bit of testing you will see what aperture gives you the best balance of subject sharpness and background blur.

That’s it! Now go out there and photograph pretty things with smoothly blurred backgrounds!

Photos by Donald Peterson, Newark1 Web Design Studio

Tags: background, blur, cheap, Digital Camera Reviews & Tips, telephoto, zoom lenses