In photography the concept "depth of field" describes the distance between the closest thing in focus and the furthest thing in focus in a shot. To get the effect you are talking about requires that the subject you are shooting is inside of that area, and the background is outside.
There are 4 things that impact the depth of field:
1) The aperture. That relates to the size of the hole through which the light is getting into the camera. The bigger the whole, the smaller the depth of field, so the more likely you are to create that effect.
2) The distance you are from the subject. The close you are, the shallower the depth of field, so the more likely you are to create the effect.
3) The zoom factor. The more zoomed in you are if the camera has a zoom, the easier it is to create this effect.
4) The size of the sensor. The bigger the sensor, the shallower the depth of field so the more likely you are to get that effect.
So, on point and shoot cameras here's the deal. Many have a small sensor and a not very good "maximum aperture" so you're starting at a disadvantage in terms of getting really great results of this effect.
You have no control of the sensor size - it is what it is. You do have control over distance, zoom and aperture.The zoom and aperture thing is a bit tricky.
The problem is that with most zooms, the more you zoom in, the worse the aperture gets so it might take some experimentation to find the sweet spot.
The good news is that most point and shoots have a "Portrait" mode - typically it's the head and shoulders of a woman wearing a hat.. go figure. In that setting the camera is going to use the biggest aperture it can.
On distance you can control that, but only to the extent that you frame the subject appropriately. The reality is that apart from some really specific scenarios it's hard to get this effect with a point and shoot because of the limitations of the camera. Sensor size and max aperture.
At many times when you do want that effect, like a person standing not far from a wall it's just not going to happen. As a reasonably serious amateur photographer who has a bunch of heavy gear,
I recently decided to experiment with point and shoot cameras to find one I could carry around with me all the time, and getting this effect was the deal killer that made it really hard. In the end I decided to buy an older Nikon D90 and an adapter to use my Nikon lenses because point and shoots just aren't strong in this area.
If you want to play with some numbers google "depth of field calculator" and you can plug in some scenarios and it will come back and tell you the shortest and longest distance from the camera that would be in focus.
There are 4 things that impact the depth of field:
1) The aperture. That relates to the size of the hole through which the light is getting into the camera. The bigger the whole, the smaller the depth of field, so the more likely you are to create that effect.
2) The distance you are from the subject. The close you are, the shallower the depth of field, so the more likely you are to create the effect.
3) The zoom factor. The more zoomed in you are if the camera has a zoom, the easier it is to create this effect.
4) The size of the sensor. The bigger the sensor, the shallower the depth of field so the more likely you are to get that effect.
So, on point and shoot cameras here's the deal. Many have a small sensor and a not very good "maximum aperture" so you're starting at a disadvantage in terms of getting really great results of this effect.
You have no control of the sensor size - it is what it is. You do have control over distance, zoom and aperture.The zoom and aperture thing is a bit tricky.
The problem is that with most zooms, the more you zoom in, the worse the aperture gets so it might take some experimentation to find the sweet spot.
The good news is that most point and shoots have a "Portrait" mode - typically it's the head and shoulders of a woman wearing a hat.. go figure. In that setting the camera is going to use the biggest aperture it can.
On distance you can control that, but only to the extent that you frame the subject appropriately. The reality is that apart from some really specific scenarios it's hard to get this effect with a point and shoot because of the limitations of the camera. Sensor size and max aperture.
At many times when you do want that effect, like a person standing not far from a wall it's just not going to happen. As a reasonably serious amateur photographer who has a bunch of heavy gear,
I recently decided to experiment with point and shoot cameras to find one I could carry around with me all the time, and getting this effect was the deal killer that made it really hard. In the end I decided to buy an older Nikon D90 and an adapter to use my Nikon lenses because point and shoots just aren't strong in this area.
If you want to play with some numbers google "depth of field calculator" and you can plug in some scenarios and it will come back and tell you the shortest and longest distance from the camera that would be in focus.
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