only the smallest area of the image will be in focus.
Shootingaslowasƒ1.2resultsinaverythinsliceofthe
depthofanimagepin-sharpandtherestthrownouttoblur.
Ingeneraltheƒ-stopvaluethoughttobebestforportraiture
will be somewhere around the ƒ4–ƒ5.6 mark.
It isalso thecasethat thelongerthelensthebetter the
abilitytonarrowandlimitthebackgroundwhenproducing
portraitureofthisstyle.Alonglenssuchasatelephotowill
cropintighttothesubjectandalsoallowthebackground
tobevisuallypushedfurtherintothedistance.Forthisto
beeffectivethephotographermustensurethatthesubject
isplacedfar enoughawayfromthebackgroundforitto
occur.Thecloserthesubjectistothebackgroundthemore
detailwillbeseen,andthemorelikelythebackgroundwill
be to distract the viewer.
Thephotographershouldalsobe awarethatalthoughthe
backgroundmaybepushedoutoffocusthequalityofthis
backgroundcangreatlyenhanceorhindertheportrait.The
backgroundusedneedsto beevenand unobtrusive,thus
neutral and uniform shapes and hues are ideal.
Oureyeswillautomaticallybedrawntothelighterareasof
animage–ideallythisshouldbethemaskofthefaceor
theeyesofthesubject;otherwisetheeyewillwanderover
theimageuntilitsettles.Afarstrongerportraitimagewill
drawtheviewerstraighttothesubject,andbychoosinga
darker background in which to place the subject the
photographer should achieve this.
Becarefulalsotonoticeanystronghorizontalandvertical
linesthatmayappearinthebackground;howeverblurred,
they can destroy the