Carly, you may get to know me in these circles as an anti "Bokeh" person. Hate the word. I call them "Bokeh-Meisters". Ignore it! Don't be a Bokeh-Meister! Those are the people that live on Flickr all day long commenting on other images! Lest, I digress. Words mean nothing, except for people trying to sound impressive.
Open up your lens, shrink the shutter (hold on tight, perhaps a tripod sometimes), get close to the shot, and let er rip.
Or, if you have a lot of money, get a 2.8 300mm lens and a monopod!
Carly - bokeh is usually produced on prime lenses on a wide aperture (low number such as f1.8). This article can explain it way better than I can: http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/bokeh.htm
Strange thing, I looked up the word (bokeh) In my new dictionary, and it is not there. Must be a word from another language. I know it can be mostly controlled by (depth of field), to actually inhance your prime object, but it can be overdone.
(To each his own)
Thank you Poliana, were the (!!!) necessary, I don't think so. This type of thing along with some (BOLD) letter rebuttle (which I have seen) is what will make people to not want to get in on discussion.
(Sorry Richard, I don't understand what you mean with the exclamation point observation. I didn't mean to be disrespectful in any way.... I always use a lot of exclamation points when I write and I've never heard it is a bad thing... Maybe it is a cultural thing.... Really sorry! English is not my primary language, I'm Brazilian and speak Portuguese, so maybe sometimes I don't make myself very clear. Or, maybe what is right in my culture is not in yours.... Brazilians are very effusive and warm and I try to show that in my comments.... unfortunately I'm being misunderstood... I'm here to learn and to make friends, not to fight and be rude to others.
I love commenting on the photos, but this kind of comment makes me afraid to say something! If I use the word Bokeh, I'm arrogant, if I use a lot of exclamation points, I'm being rude.... Really, it takes all the fun from the Project...)
This is way off subject (and i'm sorry) but thanks for the explination Poliana. i have a new friend who just moved here (chicago) from brazil and eveytime she texts my cell phone she always texts with (!!!) all this time i've been wondering why she's yelling at me. never thought of it as a cultural thing till now. but hey don't worry about it, don't get so shy about commenting i'm sure we all get misunderstood at some point. (i usually spell things wrong)
i really like the effect of bokeh. the lowest aperture my lens will go to is f.5 what type of lens would i need to go lower, is this where a macro lens comes in?
Poliana I am extreamly sorry for the missunderstanding, as you say it is a cultural thing, and I didn't understand. I am in upstate New york, U.S.A where people use different ways in writing to yell, or belittle people. No, you are not arrogant or rude, just a missunderstanding on my part. Again I am sorry for that. Please keep on clicking (Friends I hope?) :)
Jess, you just basically need something with a lower aperture. I have a prime lens that goes down to 1.4 and I don't even really need to try to make it work, it just works. I have another lens that goes from 1.4 to 22. Don't get hung up on "macro" or "prime".... just look at the reach of the aperture...the lower you can go, the blurrier your background can be.
Richard, it was a misunderstand and I'm glad everything is fine! With so many people, from so many cultures, we will have communication problems sometimes... (And from now on, I'll try to use less exclamation points in my phrases!).
Jess, not all lenses can focus close to the subject. A macro lens is one that allows you to take pictures very close to the subject, without loosing focus.
I have a 50mm f1.4 lens that produces a beautiful bokeh, but doesn't allow me to get too close. And I have a 100mm f2.8, that is perfect for macro shots and also produces a great bokeh!
So, basically, you need a wide aperture to produce bokeh (the lower the f, the better!).
Wow... none of these people really explained HOW to produce bokeh, which was what your original question was. Lol.
Okay, so there are a few things you need to do. First, get your aperture larger (smaller number); this is probably the number one thing you need to do. Second, get some lights in your background (smaller lights usually work better in my experience - like Christmas lights, etc); this is what your bokeh is actually made from. Third, don't focus on the lights themselves; focus on something several feet in front of them. Fourth, play with the shutter speed to get the color/exposure you want.
If you want to be artsy and ONLY take a picture of the bokeh, you'll need to change your focus setting to manual and just set your focus to some closer point between you and the lights, so that the lights go out of focus (that's what creates the cool bokeh effect).
Or you can actually focus on something in the foreground, with the lights a good 4+ feet behind your subject. This should create a bokeh effect. Play around with the depth of field here. You want the lights to be quite a ways behind your subject so they're out of focus. This is where the large aperture helps with singling out your subject from the background.
I remember the first time I managed to create bokeh - it was such a cool feeling of accomplishment! Once you understand the whys and hows of it, it's a pretty easy thing to create. Have fun!
I am Brazilian too, speak Portuguese and also use a lot of exclamation points and realized that I use too many ellipses. I believe that each country has its form of expression and each person individually as well. It is not always easy for us to express our ideas perfectly.
bokeh is actually pretty easy to achieve - if you have an slr :p
all you need is to shoot with the aperture wide open.
so if you have a 50mm 1.8, shoot with something in the foreground, focus on that and have it set to 1.8.
the background will be bokehlicious :)
You can also achieve bokeh with a point and shoot by putting on the PERSON icon. it is used for portraits and typically achieves the desired results of isolating the subject (basically what bokeh is).
Oh, Carly, what you have wrought bringing up "bokeh." Before I got into photography if someone had asked me how to bokeh I would have thought they were asking me about something like the chicken dance!!! (the three !!! were placed here as a way of expressing effusive joy and good humor). Anyway, the following link will give you more information about bokeh than you would ever want to know, but it's only 5 minutes and it's really funny. By the way, Martin Bailey does an excellent weekly podcast and I would highly recommend listening. He is very listenable and actually talks about photographs. He is British, lives in Tokyo, is definitely a bokeh meister when it comes to photography, and is fluent in Japanese--so he knows his bokeh!!! Enjoy
Episode #181 : Bokeh! Pronunciation, Meaning and Practical Use http://www.martinbaileyphotography.com/podcasts.php?dt=df&ep=181
Once you figure out bokeh, you should try to create different shapes of bokeh.. like hearts or stars. It's so easy to do and can be quite fun. :) More info here.
Sory but I am new to all of this. But how is this different from a focus on one thing on macro setting to blurr the background. Or did I really miss the meaning of this. Help, Im so confused now.
Tweets ahoy!
Join the Group
Pin With Me
it's all about depth of field! Also the distance of the subject from the background.
http://digital-photography-school.com/win-a-bokeh-kit-competition
There are some links within this little article that'll give you some info.
Open up your lens, shrink the shutter (hold on tight, perhaps a tripod sometimes), get close to the shot, and let er rip.
Or, if you have a lot of money, get a 2.8 300mm lens and a monopod!
Good luck!
Is it part of that "cuteypie-fantasy-interwebular-slangulation" like when people type "kitteh" for "cat"...?
What on Earth does it mean?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokeh
IMO nothing right, wrong or otherwise about using it.
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/bokeh.htm
(To each his own)
http://365project.org/gixster92/365/2010-03-10
I love commenting on the photos, but this kind of comment makes me afraid to say something! If I use the word Bokeh, I'm arrogant, if I use a lot of exclamation points, I'm being rude.... Really, it takes all the fun from the Project...)
And use the term "bokeh" anytime you want! Sorry Chris :-)
Oh, and I use exclamation points all the time! Don't know why....
:-)
I have a 50mm f1.4 lens that produces a beautiful bokeh, but doesn't allow me to get too close. And I have a 100mm f2.8, that is perfect for macro shots and also produces a great bokeh!
So, basically, you need a wide aperture to produce bokeh (the lower the f, the better!).
Okay, so there are a few things you need to do. First, get your aperture larger (smaller number); this is probably the number one thing you need to do. Second, get some lights in your background (smaller lights usually work better in my experience - like Christmas lights, etc); this is what your bokeh is actually made from. Third, don't focus on the lights themselves; focus on something several feet in front of them. Fourth, play with the shutter speed to get the color/exposure you want.
If you want to be artsy and ONLY take a picture of the bokeh, you'll need to change your focus setting to manual and just set your focus to some closer point between you and the lights, so that the lights go out of focus (that's what creates the cool bokeh effect).
Or you can actually focus on something in the foreground, with the lights a good 4+ feet behind your subject. This should create a bokeh effect. Play around with the depth of field here. You want the lights to be quite a ways behind your subject so they're out of focus. This is where the large aperture helps with singling out your subject from the background.
I remember the first time I managed to create bokeh - it was such a cool feeling of accomplishment! Once you understand the whys and hows of it, it's a pretty easy thing to create. Have fun!
all you need is to shoot with the aperture wide open.
so if you have a 50mm 1.8, shoot with something in the foreground, focus on that and have it set to 1.8.
the background will be bokehlicious :)
good luck!
Episode #181 : Bokeh! Pronunciation, Meaning and Practical Use
http://www.martinbaileyphotography.com/podcasts.php?dt=df&ep=181