I have a cannon S51S digital. How do I set it so that the subject is in focus but the background is blurry?

Question

I have a cannon S51S digital. How do I set it so that the subject is in focus but the background is blurry?

Answer 1

The short answer: Unfortunately, you can't.

Long answer: To get a picture of an in-focus subject against an out-of-focus background, you need a camera with a narrow depth of field. As Charles said, this is a function of aperture size. What he failed to mention is that it's also a function of "focal length", a fancy term for zoom. The larger the sensor or type of film in your camera, the longer focal length you'll need to get a "normal" picture, and thus the narrower the depth of field will be.

It's trivial to isolate a subject from the background on a (D)SLR. Most compact digital cameras use very small sensors, including the PowerShot S5 IS, and by virtue they need extremely short focal lengths, and therefore offer extremely broad depth of field. *Everything* is in focus! I'm sure you've noticed that in your own experience.

There is one workaround: Set your camera to "macro" mode and zoom in until the subject is in focus. The further you zoom, provided you're using a constant aperture, the more out of focus the background will be.

Answer 2

In general a larger appeture and longer shutter speed will accomplish this. Feel free to experiment. Set the camera to the largest appeture, for example f3.3 as opposed to f.8 or f11. coupled with a shutter speed of 30 sec. or less.This can be done in the manual mode if the S51S has one