Posted by William Davis on 01/11/32 11:49

In article <1149487023.458030.33980@i39g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,
"Reza" <zahid75251@yahoo.com> wrote:

> I am new to dv world and I own a Canon XL-2. I need to shoot a music
> video at several outdoor locations . there will be trees with leaves
> flying in the breeze, an ocean glittering in the sun and also colorful
> moving background. I would like to have all these in my video and keep
> my subject's image clean and sharp. What will be the best way to
> soften the background and focus on the subject for the best result.
> How do I control the depth of field in these situations? Is there any
> special filter I can use to blur out background and keep my
> subject's image sharp? Your advice will be highly appreciated

Uh,

Depth of field is a function of the aperature size.

The smaller the aperature, the greater the depth of field.

So a larger aperature, say F2 rather than F5.6 - will give you a
shallower depth of field.

Take your camera off AUTO if you can and set it to aperature priority
and then set it to the smallest F-stop you can get consistent with
proper exposure.

If opening up the lens makes the exposure too bright, use a neutral
density filter on the lens to limit the light hitting the sensor.

(the neutral density filter trick also works on cameras where you only
have auto controls)

(you can also increase the shutter speed - which will allow less light
the hit the sensor, similarly allowing you to increase your aperature
and achieve a shallower depth of field, but if the shutter speed is to
great, you can get a kind of shutter strobing effect that you might not
like.)

Good luck.

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