not sure if this is the right place for this question but i was wondering if anyone knows how to zoom in on your cake/cookies, etc and have the background blurred? not sure if that's a function on the camera or done after the fact?? i have a Panasonic DMC-TZ5 camera, i was hoping there would be someone else here who has this camera! thanks!

Oh Dailey...I can show you how with any camera, no fancy equip needed...it's a feature in Picnik! If you are interested!

Eh...nevermind. I think all you can do is have part of the pic in focus and everything else blurry. I can't figure out where you pick and choose exactly which part stays in focus. I think someone else will have to help.

It all depends on your camera. What kind do you have? A point and shoot or a SLR? If you have no idea wht an SLR is then you have a point and shoot... . It can be hard to get the effect you are going after with a point and shoot. You will have to see if you can adjust the aperture and do manual focusing I'd think. If your camera has a macro setting might get you close, but if your camera is automatically picking your focal points.

The way it works is the more open your camera lens is, the smaller the area that is in sharp focus will be. So to get that background blurr (called bokeh) you have to have your lens opened up wide and be close to your subject. If you have your lens wide open and you are a few feet fro your subject, there will be an area a few inches wide that will be in focus and the rest will be all blurry... as you step back from your subject that are gets bigger. It's easier to do if you have a SLR since you can put the camera in manual mode and tell it exactl what you want it to do. With a point and shoot you are limited by the settings.

You can sort of do it in post processing, but it never looks good if you ask me.

I totally missed your camera info... you have a point and shoot. Let me see if I can find the manual online and see if it looks like you can operate in manual mode.

If you have to book that came with your camera, they usually include basic info on things like this. If you don't have your book...you can go into your menu and change your basic zone mode. Take it off FULL AUTO. Set it on PORTRAIT. Portrait will focus on your subject and blur your bakground. Hope that helps

thanks everyone for the help! onna try some of your tips tomorrow : ) i *do* have the adobe photoshop 7.0 and was messing around with it tonight but, geeze, there are so many features! didn't think it would be these hard, lol!

good luck playing around..

I have the newest version of Photoshop (CS4) and the options are maddening at times. Don't be afraid to play with your camera's settings. Most P&S cameras have the option to shoot in a manual mode. You will get the most backround blur if you don't zoom with your camera's zoom. Use your body to zoom in and out with your camera completely un-zoomed. This will assure that your lens is the most open. Zooming in on your camera will cause the lens to close up a bit and widen that area that will be in focus and you don't want to do that.

If you can choose the aperture on your camera in manual mode, the smaller the number the wider the lens will be open.

I will stop now since I am just rambling on like a camera geek.

thanks jeanne! i tend to zoom in a lot when i take pics, oops! i look forward to taking your suggestions : )

We just got a new point & shoot camera (Canon). I was hoping to get the blurry background effect on images other than close ups, but after contacting the manufacturer, found out it is not possible to manually adjust the aperture.

I can get the effect on close up items at least. Maybe this will work with your camera too. I put mine on the macro setting and turn off the flash. I was playing around recently learning the settings. Here is a photo with the effect. (It's a Christmas ornament on the tree; was just playing with the camera.)

You can also find info online to make your own light box/tent.

http://www.strobist.blogspot.com/2006/07/how-to-diy-10-macro-photo-studio.html

http://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-make-a-inexpensive-light-tent

http://www.studiolighting.net/homemade-light-box-for-product-photography/

your pics look awesome~so professional! thanks for the links! : )

thanks for posting that link! i go there all the time and never knew i could do that : ) here is a pic i did on adobe photoshop 7...took forever though!

thanks!

Here's a quick explanation of how the blurry background works in cameras, but it's more for SLRs, not point-and-shoots.

There are two ways that you control the amount of light that gets into the camera. There's the film speed, which is the ISO,(200, 400, 800 etc) and the aperture, which is the how big the opening on the lens.
The faster the film the more sensitive it is to light, so the films with higher ISO numbers are better in low-light situations. If you're taking pictures inside, an 800 speed will work better than a 200, for example.

The larger the aperture, the more light will get in the lens, so if you're shooting inside you'll have to open the lens up to adjust for less light. The aperture numbers are opposite of the size, so a 2.8 aperture is bigger than a 5.8.

Most of the time you want to get as small an aperture as you can with the lowest film speed that you can, because the lower the film speed the less grainy pictures will be (when you use film). The bigger the aperture opening, the more light will get in, but the focal range will be shorter, so that gives you the blurry backgrounds.

I like the blurry backgrounds so I used to open my SLR up all the way to 2.8 whenever I could. Now I just got a Canon digital SLR and it won't let me open it up more then a 5 or a 4.5 most of the time even in manual mode. There has to be a way to do it but I haven't found it yet.

thanks for the info!