Love that blurred background look, but don’t have a lens with a wide open aperture? Even if you’re limited to something like a kit lens, you can still achieve the same effect. Both of the above photos were shot with my Olympus 40-150 f/2.8 lens at the same 40mm focal length, with an aperture of f/4. The only difference was that I physically moved closer for the photo on the right, which helped to shrink the area of focus. This in turn helped to blur the background more than it was. The same trick can work for any type of shot — try it at your next portrait session!