There’s Bokeh in My Photo

There’s Bokeh in My Photo

This exciting feature can be found in the background of images which are shot with a shallow depth of field. Bokeh, originates from the Japanese word ‘boke’ which means haziness or blur, but can also mean mentally unstable.

Well, in our photos, we are looking for the interesting patterns created by light that is not rendered completely realistic due to the limits of the optics in our lens and camera. With bright highlights, bokeh will usually create nice round orbs that will overlap and create beautiful abstract patterns.

There are two things to keep in mind when trying to obtain bokeh in your photos. Number one you’ll need a shallow depth of field, so be sure to shoot in manual or aperture priority mode with a very low f/stop number (i.e. f/2.8). Which, by the way, if you shoot with a wide depth of field (i.e. f/22), you can create interesting star patterns on bright highlights, but you will lose the bokeh effect.

The second component to this equation is to get close to your main focused subject. Bokeh occurs well if your focused subject is closer to your lens than the background.

Try these techniques, if you haven’t already, and soon you’ll be seeing bokeh in your creations. Let me know if this tip was helpful. Please leave a comment below.

by Kent Weakley

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Preston

The reflector cast a shadow of your camera on your chest

Southern Gal

Aperture Priority was the very first “mode” (?) I figured out on my camera. I love using it. Now to grasp the same understanding of ISO, shutter speed, white balance, etc, etc.

Kent Weakley

Thanks, good eye. I will bring this up with the entire film crew in our next production workshop.

Stephen

Respectfully submitted. Time to drop Flash so we can learn from you on our iPads. Have followed your exploits and advice for some time, but am moving away from desktop to iPad as most used device, other than heavy lifting. HTML5 please. Your readers will thank you. Doesn’t leave out anyone and includes many many of your readers.

can you accomplish a bokeh affect with a digital camera such as the NIKON COOLPIX S230?

Kent Weakley

Smaller point and shoot cameras can be difficult to create bokeh with. The small size of the lens doesn’t allow for the depth of field to effect the image as much. You can try creating bokeh in the background by using the macro feature and getting very close to your subject while allowing some of the background to appear in the frame.

Henrietta

I love bokeh, shooting flowers (close ups) I use f2.8 just to have bokeh , I think it gives more feeling to that kind of pictures:)
Greetings from Finland
Henrietta

Light Trigger

Thanks for sharing such a useful tips!!!!Greetings from Brazil (Vanessa) and California,USA (Caroline)

Guest Post: Kent Weakley | Add Custom Bokeh to Your Photos | High Calling Focus

[...] to round overlapping orbs because of the roundness of the overlapping diaphragm blades in our lens, and this is called Bokeh. Depending on the aperture setting and type of lens, occasionally the corners or overlaps of these [...]