How can I take shallow depth of field photos with a point-and-shoot camera?

I have a compact digital camera, and in macro mode I can manage to achieve a blurred background, if the background is far enough away. Can this be done when taking non-macro pictures, and if not, is there a way to simulate it?

When I shoot portraits with my brother's DSLR, it is quite easy to fade out the background. But with my point and shoot camera, I haven't been able to take such photos.

I choose a large aperture for my camera but it still doesn't work. I know that standing further and zooming will result in a smaller depth of field, but it doesn't seem to be enough to get the really nice "bokeh" look. I've tried macro mode, and that will work if the subject is close enough and the background far enough away, but how can it be done with non-macro pictures?

Why are DSLR cameras are so much better in this area? What are the general recommendations to do this using a compact or super-zoom camera?

Answer

There's a good answer from Brian Auer, which I'll reproduce here, as it pretty much covers the problem you're trying to solve:

Ooh, good question. Yes, but how much will depend on the camera.

If the camera has manual controls for aperture, that definitely helps. It also helps if the camera has zoom, as most P&S cameras do. The problem with creating a shallow depth of field comes from the fact that the sensor is so small, and as a result the lens is close to the sensor — thus creating very small focal lengths. My P&S has a focal length range from 6mm to 18mm — which is very small. They create an effective focal length much higher due to the small sensor size. As I said in the tips, a short focal length will produce an image with nearly everything in focus.

So to blur the background using a P&S, you’ll get your best results if you zoom in all the way, focus on something close (you don’t want to focus out to infinity), and have a background that is much further away. So your two points of control are focal length and subject distance. I just gave it a shot with my camera, and it does work.