50mm 1.8g lens portrait advice?

So I recently just bought a 50mm 1.8g lens for my nikon d90. I tested it outside during the day and took photos of my friend but I couldn't seem to get any bokeh (blur background). I was shooting with aperature. Does anyone know what settings I should use for outside portraits? I'm a beginner and need all the advice/tips as possible. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

What aperture setting were you using? You need to use a wide aperture setting.

"… Shooting with aperture"? Umm… It is impossible to take any photo without an aperture, which is simply the lens opening. To get a narrow depth of field, (which you and many others mistakingly call bokeh), you need to set the aperture to a lower number, which is a larger opening. With that lens, a setting of 2.8 would be good. That lens is not sharp wide open at 1.8. Even at 2.8, you need to be precise where you focus, as there will be very little in front of or behind your subject in focus. Also, the further away from the background the subject is, the more the background will be blurred.

Set your camera to aperture priority
Set the aperture to F/1.8
Get as much distance as you can between your subject and the background
Get as close to your subject as you can
Adjust ISO so your shutter speed is faster than 1/80th second
Focus on the part of your subject closest to you
Fire the shutter

50mm 1.8 about 120 bucks.

fine lens, but normal lenses like a 50mm are really made so that they can be fast. 1.8 for 50mm is quite slow that's why it's cheap.

To really blur out the background, you need to get closer, a lot closer. The Depth of Field gets shorter as the subject gets closer to the lens. Try that and see if it helps.

Edit: f1.8 is slow for a 50mm, but compared to other lenses, it's fast.

"I have no idea why people make this so complicated. Just use what looks good."

Ken Rockwell

http://www.kenrockwell.com/...arison.htm

You either hate him or love him…

Question/Comment: "I couldn't seem to get any bokeh (blur background)"
Answer: That's because 'bokeh' and 'blurred background' are not the same thing. Bokeh refers to the quality of the blurred background. Did you use the widest aperture (smallest f-stop number)?

Q/C: "I was shooting with aperature".
A: That doesn't tell us anything (everything is shot through an aperture). Also, there's only one "a" in aperture.

Q/C: "Does anyone know what settings I should use for outside portraits?"
A: Depends on a lot of things (is it light or dark outside? Do you want to freeze the action or blur it? Do you want the background in focus or not? Do you want strong shadows or not?)

Q/C: "I'm a beginner and need all the advice/tips as possible."
A: I suggest buying a book on photography and reading it cover to cover. It will be time and money well spent.

Hm. All photographs have an aperture. Sounds like you need some help getting familiar with your camera. There are a ton of free videos and lessons. Try youtube for some quality "how to's" and check out www.phototips.biz. He has a ton of free videos, a forum, and a weekly podcast. He makes everything easy to understand and doesn't go overboard with the photography nomenclature that beginners are unfamiliar with. Best advice I was ever given… Just keep shooting! Figure out what you like and don't like about a shot to learn how to improve!