# How to blur city lights



## Nessy024

does anyone know how to blur city lights when take a picture? Lowering the apeture is not enough to make it loke the following picture....Like this......Google Images


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## Twisted

Looks like its a focus technique to me.


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## Nessy024

So if i wanted to put a person in front will i be able to focus on them and still make the background like that?


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## Twisted

Nessy024 said:


> So if i wanted to put a person in front will i be able to focus on them and still make the background like that?



That question is above my ability. Some more experienced guys should chime in shortly.


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## analog.universe

In your example, nothing is in focus, which would lead me to believe the lens was focused close up, and the lights were a decent distance away.  The aperture also looks like it was wide open, since the circles are completely round, with no traces of iris blades.

If you wanted a person in focus with this type of background, you need a lens with a large aperture (low minimum f-stop).  You should also place the subject relatively close to the camera, and the background lights relatively far away.  Even if you don't have a large aperture lens, experiment with subject and background distances to see if you get the effect you're looking for.


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## Robin Usagani

Just like video I did

[video=vimeo;25995070]http://vimeo.com/25995070[/video]


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## bigtwinky

Those lights are simply out of focus, not blurry.  It has nothing to do with aperture.
If you were to throw a person in there, they would be out of focus as well.

You could put a person in there and shoot at a very wide aperture, have lots of distance between them and the lights in back, and they would be a different blurry, the typical bokeh blurry from what you are doing.


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## that1guy

a apeture aroun 1.8 is good... and manual focus i do it all the time might want to include a tripod to reduce motion blur


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## JustinL

your describing bokeh, its done by shooting at a larger aperture usually around 1.4-2.8

i shot this real quick in front of a stand of chrismas lights...


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## lesliemorris85

yep, get a 1.8 or 2.8 lens. Shoot wide open, put some distance between subject and light background.


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## Buckster

JustinL said:


> your describing bokeh, its done by shooting at a larger aperture usually around 1.4-2.8


Actually, no, they're not describing bokeh; They're describing Out Of Focus.

Bokeh is the _*quality*_ of the out of focus area of a photo, not the fact that it's out of focus.  Is it smooth and buttery and round, or is it jagged and jarred and have 5-8 distinct flat sides to it?  Generally, except for when apertures are wide open, lenses with only few aperture blades produce the latter type of bokeh, and it's usually not the kind that folks with discerning eyes tend to like and call "good bokeh".  Lenses with many aperture blades on the other hand produce smooth, round, buttery bokeh at nearly any aperture, which is what those discerning types would call "good bokeh".

ETA: By the way, it doesn't need to be a lens capable of opening up to f/1.8 or f/2.8.  This was shot at f/4:







Depending on how far away the background is compared to where the lens is focused, you can get similar OOF effects at nearly any aperture.

Also, just noticed that this thread died more than a year ago.


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## ToorboCharge

they all look out of focus.. except the picture with the asian candle that looks like it was shot wide open.


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