DIY depth of field
If you’re a fan of shallow focus but don’t have access to incredibly fast prime lenses, there are other ways to achieve a similar effect. Moving closer to your subject always throws the background into an increasingly ‘blurred’ state. Zooming in as far as your lens will allow would be another way. Getting close to a foreground subject, as I have here, will also do the trick.
Even if you’re using a kit lens, make sure you open up the aperture as wide as it will allow. On a kit lens, this would typically be around f/3.5-5.6. I also shot the same scene stopped down to f/6.4 for comparison: you can see the foreground isn’t quite as blurry, but it still creates a pleasing image.