How To Blur Backgrounds - Food Photography Tip!

By Danny

Easy Food Photography Tip

Blurred backgrounds are really popular in the glossy food magazines making the rounds in the past few years and it is one of the tricks that really distinguishes professional photography from amateur looking images. Blurring the background is not only a super easy way to add emphasis to your images, but also add an air of sophistication to them!

Tips continued after the jump...

In one of my last food photography posts, (5 Tips To Take Your Food Photographs From Boring to Fabulous)I talked about the importance of emphasizing the food and not distracting it with busy backgrounds. This tip directly relates to that because having a blurred background will guide your readers to look at the food and will also add an extra element that will completely enhance your images! Below are two ways to achieve this look!

Tip #1 - Use a Large Aperture Opening

If you're shooting on a digital SLR, utilize the Manual feature and shoot with a large aperture. Large apertures are signified by small numbers....confusing, I know, but trust me, it works. Your camera has numbers that relate to the lens opening, numbers like 2, 4, and 5.6 will blur the background while retaining detail and focus on the food. These numbers are called F-Stops and this phenomenon is called Depth Of Field.

This technique requires that you adjust the shutter speed to attain a correct exposure. If this is beyond your skill set, change the setting to Aperture priority and select one of the numbers above(2, 4, 5.6) The camera will now expose automatically based on the setting you just gave it. The smaller the F-Stop number, the larger the blurred effect will be.

Tip #2 - Shoot on Portrait Mode

If you don't have a fancy digital SLR with manual modes you can still achieve this look. Most digital point-and-shoot cameras have a mode called "Portrait". It is usually signified by a small icon of a persons head. This "mode" acts like the Aperture Priority mode discussed in Tip #1, Utilizing a small F-Stop number to take the picture!

Hope these tips help!