Can someone please tell me how i can take a clear picture with the background blurred i have tried every setting on my camera but i still cant get the blurred background effect, i use a kodak z710 can someone please help.

The first thing to do is to open up your aperture. Find your setting which does that and use the lowest number possible. I see your lens has a maximum F2.8 which is pretty good.  That will help isolate the subject from the background.  For further assistance in doing this, physically move your subject away from the background to get it easier to blur ;)

Secondly move closer to your subject with a wide angle and the background will be even more blurred - this is because at a closer focusing distance the effect is multiplied. Think of any macro photos you might have taken/seen... the bug might be in focus but the leaf isnt...

Hope that helps - for learning more about why rather than just understanding how to do it check out this wiki

Good tips Rich. Good luck aljaysart!

If you need a simple tip, I cheat the auto-focus on my digital camera by making it focus on my hand or thigh, first. Since the Premier I use only focuses on something that fills over 70% of the view, it's the only way for me. I set it to focus on my hand from, say, 2,5 inches, and then move it to the object I want to shoot.  Still difficult for very small objects but works for me most of the time. :-)

Thanks Everyone i shall give them all a go.

Aled.

sometimes i cheat even worse lol

if I have an image I really like and i wanted the background blurred out
I do it in photoshop. i dupe the original image into a new layer then i use gausin blur if thats how you spell it lol
and then i create a mask and with the black paint brush paint away what i dont want blured :-)

only because im not as bright as inshaala to know how to do this with a camera lol
Great tips inshaala :-)

get in close ...lowest apperture setting is my way too

...combined with a telephoto setting. With wide-angle it doesn't help very much.

it works ok on my old olympus 8080..... thats a very wide angle

Great stuff! I will try them all too! Never thought of focussing on my hand etc

It is not because of focal length, but magnification. The same subject at the same size will have the same depth of field, yet, to obtain that,  with a wide-angle you'd have to come very close to it and with a tele you would have to stay far away from it.
In practical life situations, it's the distance from the subject that matters. A tele flattens, a wide-angle creates unnaturally depth. Both deform. Because a tele magnifies, you get a larger background compared with the foreground, and thus an increased effect of depth of field. A wide-angle opens up/ makes the background smaller, hence more sharpness.

Which is why a wide-angle is so great when you have something very close and still can have a sharp background.

Never thought about the closeness, but with macro, it makes sense. 

learn something new every day....

Pratice makes perfect!  I agree with all the technical info above.