How to do a background blur using a Nikon D60?

Something similar to this photo:

Would I have to set my camera to manual mode in order to achieve such quality? I usually use automatic and when I zoom in to the subject as close as the one above, it doesn't end up blurring the background. The lens is a 18-55 MM. Any tips/advice is appreciated!

You need a lens with a very wide aperture. Something like a 50mm f/1.8

You apparently don't understand depth of field (DOF). That's what you're talking about.

Depth of Field actually means the depth of the camera's field of view that's in focus. A short dof
gives you that effect like this.

A long depth of field gives you the photos you say you're taking.

Your first problem is using the camera on full automatic. Don't do that. Learn to use your camera properly and it'll be easy to get the effect you want - but you must learn how first. I can't teach you that with words. You have to learn and practice.

Here's a good article on the subject - read.
http://en.wikipedia.org/...h_of_field

Different aperture settings.

See here

As Jim very well pointed out, DOF or Depth of Field is what you need. Depth of Field, as is apparent from the name means the depth in your photograph.

A narrow/shallow depth of field (which is what you looking for means that your subject stands out of background.
Like
and

A long/deep depth of field means your back-ground would be well in focus.(Which you get)

The depth is not only limited to background. You can play with the depth with-in the subject. I. E. To focus a part of your subject leaving the rest a bit soft or blur as you say it.

Depth of field depends upon two things:
1. Aperture: The opening of your lens diaphragm. It is designated at F-number or F stop.
2. Focal Length: The distance between the axis of the camera sensor and the focus.
Your lenses are rated for both the above values.Eg. The lens you mentioned above is a Nikkor AF-S 18-55mm G f3.5-5.6 VR/VR II.
Here, 18-55 mm is your focal length range and 3.5-5.6 is you minimum aperture range.

To get a narrow/short DOF, you need to either keep the aperture wide open ( smaller the numerical value, larger the opening of the lens.)
This means f3.5 is wider than f8 or f11.

Another way is to increase the focal length. The larger the focal length, shorter would be the DOF.

Therefore you need a faster lens like 85mm 1.4, 50mm 1.4, 100mm f2 etc. You can start around with a cheap yet excellent 50mm 1.8 (Approx. $100).

Hope this helps.

The 18-55mm has wide depth of field, which is bad for what you're trying to do.

Some suggestions for this lens:
- Stick with the longest focal length (55mm in your case).
- Use aperture-priority mode (A), and set aperture as "low" as possible (f/6.3 it seems). The camera will compensate by using shorter shutter speed. (Adjusting ISO to a higher value may be needed, though this will increase noise.)
- Use autofocus to set the proper focus, but don't shoot yet. Switch to manual focus and try to bring the focus in (a very slight counter-clockwise motion on the focus ring). Expect to waste a few shots fine-tuning the focus.
- When all else fails (and it likely will), use an image editor to fake the effect, though the results won't be ideal.

As others have mentioned, you'll get better results with other lenses. Telephoto lenses (even the cheapo 55-200mm) have inherently shallow DoF. Wide aperture also gives shallow DoF-'fast' lenses have maximum aperture values as close to f/1 as possible.

Shoot with a fast shutter speed and a very large aperture on your lens (as large as it will go), using the manual settings of the camera. If it's a zoom lens, zoom in on your subject. This will cause your subject to be in focus, while anything in front of or behind your subject will be blurred. The degree of blurring depends on the focal length of the lens and the aperture setting: long focal lengths and large apertures favor increased blurring. The technical term for this effect is shallow depth of field.