One of the questions I get asked the most when people are looking through my books or prints is how do I get my backgrounds all blurry like that. It's embarrassingly simple, really. You can even do it with your point and shoots, if you have the correct settings. On a DSLR, it's as simple as having what's known as a fast lens - or a lens with a really big aperture. In this case, I was shooting wide open at f1.8 - meaning my aperture was wide open. Think of it this way . . . you take a flashlight and shine the beam close to an empty wall - like a foot away. The beam will show up nice and tight on the wall. You'll have clearly defined edges . . . this is the equivalent of f/22 on your camera. Now start walking backwards with flashlight still aiming at the wall. While the wall is still lit, the beam becomes fuzzier the farther back you get until there's no definable beam on the wall at all, yet the wall is illuminated - there you have f1.8! That explanation sounded a lot shorter in my head than when I started typing it out, but I hope that makes sense. So set your cameras to shoot with a wide aperture to get that fuzzy background effect in camera!
This was captured at f1.8 with a shutter speed of 320th of a second. ISO is down to 100.
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