5 Easy Steps to Get a Blurred Background in Your Photos - Bears with Cameras (2024)

Here’s the thing about photography, at least for me, it’s partially about getting that beautiful shot but it’s mostly about capturing the memory. You want to remember your experience in that wonderful location, wherever it may be.

This is why I love calling attention to a subject, usually a family member (furry or not), when I’m out taking photos on adventures. And blurring the background, even just a bit, helps achieve this.

Check out this wicked shot from our latest adventure:

Want to know how to do the same? Keep reading and I’ll show you!

5 EASY STEPS TO GET A BLURRED BACKGROUND IN YOUR PHOTOS

1. CHOOSE THE RIGHT LENS

Select something in the range of a standard to telephoto length lens. Some good examples of this would be between 50mm & 85mm.

The photo above was taken with my 50mm lens and you can see that it just blurs the background enough to call attention to my subjects.

Telephoto lenses (or zoom lenses) work great for creating that blurred background look because just as zooming in magnifies the subject that’s in focus, it also magnifies the soft background!

If you’d like more details on understanding focal lengths, check out this post.

2. PLACE YOUR SUBJECT PROPERLY

In order to get that blurred background you’ll want to place your subject quite far away from the background.

This works together with the note in step one, where zooming in on the subject will magnify the subject in focus as well as magnify the blurred background. So then, the further away that subject is from the background, the more blurred the background will be!

To give you an idea, in the photo above, my husband and puppy were about 20 feet away from the waterfall.

3. SELECT THE RIGHT CAMERA MODE

Set your camera mode to Aperture Priority. On my Canon camera, this is shown as “AV” on the mode dial. On other cameras, it may just show as “A”.

This is important because it will allow you to control the Aperture while your camera takes care of the other two exposure settings of ISO and Shutter Speed to make sure your photo is properly exposed.

Let’s hop into what Aperture setting to use next.

4. OPEN UP YOUR APERTURE

To get that blurred background we’ll need to open up the Aperture to around f/ 4.0 or larger. I know it’s a bit odd but a larger Aperture is actually a smaller number, so something like f/ 1.4 is larger than an Aperture of f/ 4.0.

I go into detail on F-Stops and Aperture Numbers in this post if you’re curious to learn more and understand why Aperture Numbers work the way they do. Fair warning, you might want to sit down with a large cup of coffee and get cozy for that one!

Try using something like f/ 1.4, f/2.0, f/2.8, f/ 4.0 as all of these will work, but you’ll see the most effect with something like f/ 1.4.

When I’m using my 50mm lens, I love the look of the photos where I’ve opened Aperture to f/ 1.4. Here’s an example of what it looks like:

What you’re actually seeing is the light reflecting off the wet rocks in the background and in this case, I’m holding the rock at waist height and photographing at eye level down towards the rocks on the beach. Just in case you want to try this for yourself!

5. FOCUS & SNAP YOUR PHOTO!

Okay, this is the key right here!

When you press your shutter halfway, make sure that little green rectangle is on your subject. If it’s not, then after all that hard work, your subject will be blurry. Not what we’re going for here!

To be doubly sure, take a few photos, making sure your focus is set on your subject each time. Now you can leave the location confident that you at least have one good shot!

If you’d like a bit more information on focus modes, have a peek at this post!

SUMMARY

The five steps to getting that blurred background are:

1. Choose the Right Lens – try between 50mm and 85mm
2. Subject Placement – away from the background
3. Select the Right Camera Mode– Aperture Priority Mode, shown as “AV” or “A” on the mode dial
4. Open up the Aperture – try between f/ 1.4 & f/ 4.0
5. Focus & Snap your Photo – make sure the focus point is on your subject

MORE INSPIRATION!

Here’s a few other photos to inspire you to pack up your photography bag and capture some of your own!

This was taken at Piper’s Lagoon on Vancouver Island during golden hour.

This little guy was spotted near Athabasca Falls in Jasper.

This fluffy bear was spotted in the backyard and this was taken seconds before he decided to go turbo. Man he makes me smile!

BONUS TIPS!

If you’ve read this far, here’s a virtual high five and a great big thank you! As a treat, here’s a few more tips to think about when you’re out capturing those wonderful memories!

First, be creative! Not always, does the background have to be blurred. Sometimes it’s neat to blur the foreground! Check out the photo of the shack a couple ones up, see how the leaves in front are blurred? Makes you feel like you’re peeking through the bushes to spot this hidden gem right?

Second, what message do you want to convey? In the first photo for this post where my bears are standing in front of the waterfall, I didn’t want to blur the background too much. I wanted to blur it just enough to call attention to my subjects and still be able to tell that they’re standing in front of a beautiful waterfall! The idea here is that you don’t always have to crank the Aperture all the way open.

Third, get low! I love the photo of Sulley bear (my puppy) above with his nose in the grass. What I did here was lay my camera on the grass and set the focus right on his sweet little eyes. By having a low perspective and an open Aperture of f/ 1.4, I was able to blur both the foreground and the background!

There we have it my photography friends! Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope this post inspires you to get out and play & capture some memorable moments along the way!

GEAR USED TO GET THESE PHOTOS: