What is Bokeh?
Bokeh, also known as “Boke” is one of the most popular subjects in photography ever. The reason why this technique is so popular, is because Bokeh makes photographs visually appealing, forcing us to focus our attention on a particular area of the image. The word comes from Japanese language, which literally translates as “blur” which is exactly what it is.
Basically, bokeh is the quality of out-of-focus or “blurry” parts of the image rendered by a camera lens, – it is NOT the blur itself or the amount of blur in the foreground or the background of a subject. The blur that you are so used to seeing in photography, that separates a subject from the background, is the result of shallow “depth of field”, and is generally simply called “background blur”. The quality and feel of the background/foreground blur and reflected points of light, however, is what photographers call Bokeh.
To achieve this effect, you must select a large aperture about f/2.8, 1.8 and 1.4, then get up close to the subject, and focus on what you wish to be 'sharp' whilst making the subject far from the background you want blurred out.
I really liked the way many photographers used the use of making lights into almost circular spheres, and decided to have a go at trying out the effect, by putting a clean glass over my lens to take the pictures it created the desired outcome, these were my results:
Basically, bokeh is the quality of out-of-focus or “blurry” parts of the image rendered by a camera lens, – it is NOT the blur itself or the amount of blur in the foreground or the background of a subject. The blur that you are so used to seeing in photography, that separates a subject from the background, is the result of shallow “depth of field”, and is generally simply called “background blur”. The quality and feel of the background/foreground blur and reflected points of light, however, is what photographers call Bokeh.
To achieve this effect, you must select a large aperture about f/2.8, 1.8 and 1.4, then get up close to the subject, and focus on what you wish to be 'sharp' whilst making the subject far from the background you want blurred out. I really liked the way many photographers used the use of making lights into almost circular spheres, and decided to have a go at trying out the effect, by putting a clean glass over my lens to take the pictures it created the desired outcome, these were my results:
