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Missing the trees for the Forest: A deeper understanding of why to create Bokeh. (post one of yours)
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Welcome to the longest bokeh discussions on the web with over 1800 posts.
Jimages Digital is Jim, who teaches online photo courses through Apogee Photo for $200.
This is a complimentary way to get support for your bokeh-related photos, so :
1. PLEASE, post Large or Medium Size ONLY. Small size posts will be deleted.
2. To help us give you feedback, you should WRITE about your image? How did you make the bokeh harmonize with your main subject? Did you use hue, texture and brightness of the background bokeh? Why did you choose the subject?
4. Add detail about the bokeh. DO not put in about your gear.
The goal of this thread is to get us thinking, thinking about our photography.
What is BOKEH:
Bokeh (properly pronounced with bo as in bone and ke as in Kenneth,) is not about TIME. It is not a moment in time. but a quality of space. It came from Japanese photography and the spherical arrangement of the blades giving the photograph choices. I think we misunderstand Bokeh: the concept is one of aesthetics of the blur (Roger Hicks)
Bokeh is not an inherent quality of a scene. It is blur, or smudge in Japanese, that comes from a plane of focus created by your lens. Our brain does not have a bokeh setting. Also, pleasing bokeh is subjective. A maximum aperture does not automatically give bokeh. . . bokeh can emerge from chromatic aberrations, out of focus corners of the image area, vignetting-- aberrations that occur when the aperture is wide open. . . and these may produce an image we subjectively consider pleasing bokeh.
The semantic meaning of Bokeh (dotclue.org) is from a Japanese photographic term is ピンぼけ (for the kana-impaired, “pinboke”). It’s a compound word; pin from the Dutch brandpunt = “focus”, and boke from the verb 暈ける (“bokeru”) = “to fade”.
TIPS::
1. Compose so the out of focus background is in harmony with what you want in focus. Obviously you pros in the Bokeh group know this, so I am speaking to those who are new to bokeh. The point of photography is the subject matter, not the out of focus area.
2. Making pictures just for the quality of the out of focus areas is like missing the tree for the forest .The idea of bokeh is not just using a 1.4 aperture setting, but to compose so that the out of focus area supports the subject matter of your image.
Thinking about Bokeh:
Look for points of light in the background. Perfect subjects for this are distant points of light at night or sometimes light shining through leaves or specular reflections in daylight.
If they all blend together nicely, you are in the realm, historically, of good bokeh. If they are perfect little circles, then that's neutral bokeh. If they are all swimmy and look little little rolled up condoms or donuts, then that has been called bad bokeh.
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to ADD A LaRGE OR MEDIUM SIZE IMAGE;
Go to your photo page.
Then click on the 'down' arrow next to the mail, FB and twitter buttons. The default text in there is for 'medium' (under "Grab the HTML/BBCode").
Below that box is another pull down that starts off at "Medium".
Then grab and highlight ALL text in the box , Control/Command C, and paste that text into the Understanding Bokeh thread here.
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Originally posted at 5:48AM, 4 May 2010 PDT
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Jimages Digital edited this topic 13 hours ago.
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(301 to 400 of 1,850 replies in Missing the trees for the Forest: A deeper understanding of why to create Bokeh. (post one of yours))
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caitlinburke
Delighted to hear your thoughts, as that is what this Bokeh thread is all about, your opinion of what works for the aesthetics of bokeh.
Posted 21 months ago.
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EOS 300D, EF 50mm f/1.8 II, f/3.5 , 1/160, ISO 400.
I used f/3.5 to get the butterfly as well as its immediate environment (close by leaves) in sharp focus. I guess I would have got far more blur if I'd gone even wider, but I wanted a couple of leaves clear and defined.
This is a great discussion. Has given me some interesting insights.
Originally posted 21 months ago.
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hell_rider [Away] edited this topic 21 months ago.
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caitlinburke
Thanks for your thoughts. You noted above
" My feeling is that a blurred background is a normal artifact of normal to wide-aperture photography—few of us have the discipline, opportunity, or light to routinely pursue f/64, or even f/32—but that for a photo to be notable for its bokeh, that defocused area must be an active (ideally, an explicitly framed) aspect of the photograph."
I agree. You've given eloquent expression to the idea that the bokeh can be well framed. Up to now we've been discussion the quality of the bokeh, and you've taken us into the form, shape, and framing of the bokeh, an excellent point. The photo becomes noticeable, not only for its bokeh, but for its subject matter, as with your flowers above, in 1/3 of the frame at right, well-framed by the bokeh swan- a compelling image all around.
The Little Prince of Bokeh
This "essential invisibility" that you described is at the core of our photographic understanding of bokeh. What is essential is invisible to the eye, said Le Petit Prince, and your idea echoes this. When bokeh is done well, as bokeh it is invisible and we, the viewer, go right to the in focus Center of Interest, or Center of Attention, as you put it.
Jim
Posted 21 months ago.
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Hell Rider
Thanks for sharing your fine butterfly portrait. Again, to continue the thread of essential invisibility, you have so strongly composed the lines of the leaves around the butterfly, and it is such a strong center of interest, that your high quality bokeh is invisible.
Well done. Hope you will post some more when the mood is right...
As an aside, your photograph shows us that, in the right hands, a 50mm lens is really all we need to express powerful imagery.
Jim
Originally posted 21 months ago.
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Jimages Digital edited this topic 21 months ago.
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lighthack
your portrait is so wonderful, and like many I am so delighted with the expression on the face of this man, the Amtrak conductor.
what is less obvious is that the background works simply, subtly, and beautifully to surround him with just the right colors, and blur, to empower us to come back to him.
the red, at upper right, echoes the color of his tie.
the flowers, at left, echo his upbeat mood in their color and form
even the teal bokeh'd rectancular area behind him frames his head and hat.
all of which is to say, i love this portrait.
Originally posted 21 months ago.
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Jimages Digital edited this topic 21 months ago.
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Posted 21 months ago.
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I had to think long and hard about this one:
The bright highlight in the back is both distracting and leading...
Posted 21 months ago.
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Posted 21 months ago.
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trishoverton
thanks for sharing. what keeps me coming back to your fine butterfly image, apart from the fuzzy, creamy bokeh which is a good color range, is the shape of the plant that structures our gaze around the butterfly. While the butterfly is so close to the center of the image, a composition we generally do not prefer, the lines of the plant around it
echo the lines on its wings, giving a circular feel to the composition that I like very much.
boldpuppy
I think the highlight line behind the spider is leading. Why? The power of the eyes of the spider is so good, we do not want to leave them, so the bokeh line is subtle compared to the great focus on its eyes. Your long , hard thinking is reflected in a superb macro of a subject, in low light, that is tough for many of us even to get in focus.
marquisde
thanks for sharing. I'd like to invite you to keep working with this subject, and consider this one a study. the dense clumps of berries in the bokeh , blurred area are too numberous for my eye. You are welcome to disagree here... personally, a simpler, less busy background would help me see the main berries better.
hope you will post again soon. and thanks.
Posted 21 months ago.
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Tyhanks for your feedback on the berry shot above. I see what you mean on the mass of blue directly above the infocus set of berries.
Here's one I'd like your opinion on and how I can improve?
There's also a flys bottom shot above that I like, but you missed, and I'd really appreciate your thoughts on how I can improve that too.
Appreciate your advice.
Posted 21 months ago.
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Jim,
Thank you for your kind comments on my earlier submission to this thread.
Here is another one I took a couple of days back.
EOS 300D, EF 50mm f/1.8 II
1/500, f/3.5, ISO 200
The objective here was to restrict the focused area to the B&W decal.
The green in the background is a potted palm. The blue blob is the curtain. The pale orange is the sunset beyond the window. The bright blur in the centre of the photograph is light reflecting off one of the leaves. It takes up more of your attention than I would have liked.
Originally posted 21 months ago.
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hell_rider [Away] edited this topic 21 months ago.
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Originally posted 21 months ago.
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Fonsmark edited this topic 21 months ago.
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Marquisde
Hi. Good to see you again, and thanks for sharing.
Yes! I have been looking repeatedly at the flys bottom photograph. I held off commenting. Now that you identified it for me, as a fly's bottom, I feel better prepared to comment.
Every work of photography has an optimum, particular size that suits it well. I'd like to see this one larger, as it is it was harder for me to figure out what it was, at that size, and would be easier to respond to in 16 x 20 print.
As it is, I like it because the bokeh is natural, and a contrasting color to the blue color of the flys bottom. Also, the details in the fly are compelling. The fact that it took me a long time to see what you were getting at adds to its mystery, an excellent quality for a photograph. So, overall, it works well.
The pink blossoms and temple building is too ambivalent; it can't decide what its about, the temple, or the blossoms. If there was one blossom, or two, in clear focus and the temple defocused behind them, it would be clearly about the tree. So, what might one do differently. Telephoto optic, or move closer to the blossom, to isolate it. For the flys bottom, you isolated a single and powerful center of interest, which made it work.
Originally posted 21 months ago.
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Jimages Digital edited this topic 21 months ago.
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hell rider
I very much appreciate you continuing to share your work. Please feel free to leave comments for others, to help them learn from your eye, and talent.
I think its successful, because your achieved your goal of restricting the focus to the decal, and the bokeh supports the decal as the center of interest. Also, the textures in the speaker, and the light on it, make it an interesting subject.
You mentioned the light in the background. To me, its not at all bothersome, given the quality of the bokeh. What is distracting to my eye is the second circle of the speaker.
I also think the photography would be pleasing in black and white.
Originally posted 21 months ago.
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Jimages Digital edited this topic 21 months ago.
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Fonsmark
I like how you've handled the bokeh behind the boy in the red hat. I'd very much like to see the rest of his right hand, because I feel the hands are essential to portraiture, and if I can see one, in the position he is in, I like to see the other.
The portrait of the woman is beautifully done. The gold tones in the bokeh support her hair color. Her expression is exquisite, and so is the light on her face. Well done.
Thanks for sharing.
Posted 21 months ago.
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When you concentrate on your main subject, in street portraiture, you want to start with a melody. The main theme of your photograph is the melody. The bokeh, and background, is the harmony. Keeping the background at the right tone, with enough blur to emphasize the melody yet still be heard, is the hardest thing in portraiture. A complimentary background color helps a portrait.
So, we set the aperture in advance. I usually choose F 4 for a certain bokeh, depending on the lens. Here, I'm using 30 year old manual focus lens, and I chose f 8. Without a light meter, and with just manual settings, you can choose the standby "f/8 and be there" for portraits during the day in sun and be successful 90 percent of the time. It's pretty simple. . .
How do you think about bokeh, and the relationship between it and how deep you want your blur to go ?
Originally posted 21 months ago.
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Jimages Digital edited this topic 21 months ago.
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Thanks for your advice before. What's a telephoto optic?
Posted 20 months ago.
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Optics (glass) are defined as 'wide', 'normal' or 'telephoto' depending on how it relates to the human eye. In 35mm cameras (the 135 format), 'normal' is usually defined to be around 50mm. Wider lenses run from around 24mm to 50mm. Super or ultrawide goes to around 14mm. Lenses longer than 50mm are telephoto... 85mm is a 'short' telephoto, and 400mm is a 'long' telephoto.
In macro, you will get blur with any focal length - the question will be 'what does that blur look like, is it pleasing to the eye, and does it compliment or detract from the subject' ... longer focal length macro lenses have less 'stuff' in the background, where wider ones will have more there.
A short telephoto macro, like the 100mm macro, can make images like this one:
Posted 20 months ago.
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Carefully angling the background, and waiting for the right moment, I got:
Posted 20 months ago.
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Jim,
Thank you for the invitation, I'm honored to have a photo in this discussion, there is so much fantastic work here. Also, I'm inspired by the way you encourage everyone and gently keep the discussion "on topic" Thanks!
Posted 20 months ago.
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again, playing with foreground, so awkward - but people seemed to like it more than...
any thoughts? the backstory is that we were in a 'writers bar/cafe' called Le Poesia in Buenos Aires, so i wanted to juxtapose the two key activities that go on there.
Posted 20 months ago.
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marquis de
continuing your question what is a telephoto optic?
It's those big white things you see the pros photographing with at football games with a lens opening the size of a garbage can. . .
seriously, as it relates to bokeh, telephoto lenses throw the background out of focus more easily, at the same aperture, as wide angle lenses.
Posted 20 months ago.
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Bold Puppy
Good solid bokeh work on the caterpillar. Even stronger without the detail at lower left corner. Thanks for your excellent comment on telephoto optics, that was a great explanation!
Posted 20 months ago.
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jteel3
I love the photograph. It uses bokeh to tell a story. You give us the main character, in focus, and by using bokeh in foreground and background so effectively, you've taken us into the realm of imagining what he is thinking about the "other guy". It's wonderful photography, mate!
Share some more
Posted 20 months ago.
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RUBYDOOMSDAY
Definitely I agree with the "popular" vote and with your choice. With the back story you shared, I don't find it awkward, just seeing it as creative use of foreground bokeh, exactly the theme of this discussion thread, using bokeh to create a sense of place, at the writer's bar. the reason I like the focus on the writer is that the pen, and its words, are a small and precise focus for the eye, in the larger scheme of the story. well done, mate. (my only suggestion is to add a frame, and your signature, for that "writers" feel)
Originally posted 20 months ago.
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Jimages Digital edited this topic 20 months ago.
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Thats guys. So a telephoto optic is really just the technical term for a zoom lens I guess.
Posted 20 months ago.
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Being color blind, choosing the correct backgound is a constent challenge. I found using smooth silky bokeh corrected any poor background colors on my part. Hooray for Pentax's near perfect prime macro lens.
Posted 20 months ago.
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no. A telephoto optic is one that presents a field of view narrower than what you can see with your eyes.
A Zoom is a lens that can change focal length. There are wide and ultrawide zoom lenses (and Canon released a fisheye zoom recently).
Posted 20 months ago.
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I've always thought of bokeh as the canvas on which I'm painting light. This seems to hold especially true in macro photos where the depth of field is so shallow, much of the image will be out of focus. The bokeh serves as the texture of the image, much like to type of medium an oil painter would select. In this shot I put a wide field of light onto the chain to bring out the many tiny glints that turn the background into a sort of star field to silhouette to focal point, where the armor breaks.
It seems a lot of folks put more thought into bokeh than I do, but my normal work (event photography) gives me little time to carefully compose bokeh into a shot. Things tend to move fast, good photo-ops are fleeting, and I rarely get a choice of backgrounds. That being said, I try for that silky goodness that is bokeh whenever I get the chance.
Posted 20 months ago.
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Posted 20 months ago.
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Bokeh at street festivals isn't always easy.. but this time, I went for a very minimalist subject and background:
Posted 20 months ago.
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Thank you for the invitation to this very interesting discussion. I'm always happy to learn.
Posted 20 months ago.
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Posted 20 months ago.
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an interesting water drop shot! I love how each one looks at that hibiscus slightly differently...
photographing grass is particularly tough, but the bokeh here really makes at least two of them stand out nicely.
Posted 20 months ago.
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beautiful, stunning photo. I just love these extreme closeups, so I'm rather biased... but still - the bokeh here really compliments the subject in color and texture - or lack thereof.
Posted 20 months ago.
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I'm slightly color blind, but not completely (mine is where I can't tell some shades of one color when put against another). The bee photo has beautiful, smooth green bokeh that really compliments the busy bee...
Originally posted 20 months ago.
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BoldPuppy edited this topic 20 months ago.
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There was just so much going on during this street festival - it was a big challenge to find a set of colors that would look nice when blurred... I think this shot was pure luck, but I like how it turned out.
Posted 20 months ago.
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Hello all,
Just went through all of the participation since last week. Very interesting discussion going on here.
Jim,
Many thanks for your inputs on my speaker photo. Thanks for inviting me to participate in the discussion as well.
Boldpuppy - Your Caterpiller shot is amazing. Great detail. beautiful blur.
The Denim photo is as you described. Simple and minimalistic. It does work.
RubyDoomsDay - I liked the first photo as well where the front is OOF.
GeoffTuba - Your bug on flower photo is brilliant. Terrific detail. More importantly, the blur does not detract from the main subject at all.
DmunrowPhoto - Thats a great photo of everyday objects. Bokeh aside, I also think the skill here is in "seeing" i.e. identifying a potentially good subject, something I find does not come to very easily.
StevenJames - Magnificent flower/bug photo. That is almost textbook marco and bokeh. Great colours. What is interesting is that the blur is in two separate areas in two totally different colours.
Aquarius - Your water drops reflection shot is beautifully done. The detail in each of the droplets is what makes the photo. Again the background while beautiful, does not detract from the main subjects.
Emteheed - Your grass photo is good. As BoldPuppy has pointed out, photographing grasses is a bit difficult at times. But you've got them in focus. I would have liked it more if you had re-oriented yourself to exclude the wooden door / structure on the right.
Here is my entry for the week. Flower photo. Without a macro lens or an extension tube, it is bit difficult isolating smaller components of a subject. However, I am glad this photo came out exactly as envisioned.
Originally posted 20 months ago.
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hell_rider [Away] edited this topic 20 months ago.
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I'm not sure how I feel about this shot. The OOF one on the right has some doubling going on (moving in the wind?). I like the overall composition, though the center part throws me off a little. I think it's a great start into thinking about how the parts of what you see in front of you will become transformed by your choices as the artist behind the lens.
Posted 20 months ago.
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Here's a 'people for bokeh' shot...
Posted 20 months ago.
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Bold Puppy (people for bokeh)
I think the top part of this photograph is good storytelling.
I'm slightly distracted , at the bottom of the image, by the foreground bokeh, the color is so different from the person.
Jim
Posted 20 months ago.
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Hell Rider (white flower photo)
That's is a difficult photo to do. You've separated the foreground and background flowers quite well, and the yellow pollenated stamens ( I think that's what they are, I always have trouble remembering which is which) parts are compelling. The shape of the background bokeh is beautiful too. Well done.
Originally posted 20 months ago.
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Jimages Digital edited this topic 20 months ago.
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Bold Puppy ( Street Festival )
It works. The background bokeh is soft, high quality, and sets off the main subject beautifully. Well done, my friend.
Thanks for sharing and commenting on others, too.
Originally posted 20 months ago.
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Jimages Digital edited this topic 20 months ago.
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Emteehead
Thanks for sharing.
To my eyes it does not work at all. Trying to hard to fit too much in . This one, on the same subject of the grass stems, from your photostream, works beautifully:
www.flickr.com/photos/em_t_hed/5029732799/
Jim
Posted 20 months ago.
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Gerda (water drops)
Thanks for sharing your fine work...
For a more rectangular photograph, and a more powerful statement,
I would crop the bottom 1/5th, as for me the area covered by the purple bokeh at the bottom of your photograph is just slightly too large as it pulls my eye away from the specular highlight (center of interest).
Otherwise, the light, structure, idea, and background bokeh you've created are ideal.
Jim
Originally posted 20 months ago.
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Jimages Digital edited this topic 20 months ago.
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Bold Puppy (street fest, blue jeans?)
Not sure what to say about this one.
Jim
Posted 20 months ago.
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stevenjamesphotography (insect)
Splendid. The color pallette with the two color background bokeh is an eye-grabbing composition for this tiny winged friend.
[ that micro Nikor - I use the "old" tongue for Nikor meaning a specialized Nikon lens- creates a beautiful bokeh, totally different from any other lens.
Thanks. Share more, and please comment on others work if you can spare the time...
Posted 20 months ago.
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dmunroephoto
Thanks for sharing how you see, and interpret bokeh. For weddings, events, and fast moving commercial work, understanding bokeh so we don't miss the forest for the trees can add another level to our photography work.
You mentioned the canvas. One idea behind bokeh is the Chinese thinking in the history of Chinese art. The subject is placed so that it gives great weight and import to the black, unpainted portions of the photograph (the bokeh). There is equal thought given to the texture of the canvas, and to its silky, grainy, or smooth characteristics.
For instance, in the circles of confusion you have as your background bokeh, there is a pleasing texture that matches the textures in the out of focus metal in your foreground. Taking these two textures, with the texture of the center of interest, the metal that is in focus, makes for balance in the textural qualities of your photograph.
I like how you've seen the armor breaking point as the COI, and silhouetted it with the circles of confusion: it's a fine example of how to choose where to stand, i.e. where to photograph FROM, so the background, and foreground, harmonize with the main subject.
Posted 20 months ago.
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geofftube
I'm impressed.
Selection and treatment of background is one of the most difficult aspects of photography, and without color to guide you, you have a difficult challenge as you said, so that makes your photograph stand out for me, given the extra exphasis on creating a smooth bokeh, which that lens does beautifully, in your hands.
Posted 20 months ago.
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Posted 20 months ago.
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Sometimes, you get lucky.
This argiope was on the outside and essentially under a cover of trees. This presented an opportunity that worked better than expected...
However... I needed to use a fill flash to really bring out the details in the spider. I found another one that was in a more photo-friendly location (4 1/2 feet off the ground, instead of 15')... and the background on this one also made for some interesting patterns:
Just around the bushes from that, a lone stalk was sitting there... and it had a visitor. I shot this one from multiple angles and with the fill flash. I think I like this version the best:
because of the way the contrast isolates the subject, yet brings 'bokeh' to life near the bottom of the shot... almost like ice cubes finish off a cool, refreshing drink. (Except at the bottom, instead of the top....)
Posted 20 months ago.
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@ Jimages Digital : i dont know what you want to say with that "essay" it sounds like you found it out yourself the day before you wrote that :) is it you mr rockwell ?
just kidding :)
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/maximiumlagstudios/4942015765/]
Originally posted 20 months ago.
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inevitable:crafts.photos edited this topic 20 months ago.
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Manuel
Good photograph, thanks for posting.
The bokeh works.
Without knowing the title, I got the message of the joy of the game. The watch changes this, since it is the most in-focus part of the photograph. So, time becomes a symbol. I do not think you intended this, but TIME as a symbol, with the game itself, adds some tension. A lot of tension. The man is holding his watch, so we can imagine he is thinking about time. The players are near the goal, will they score in time?
Posted 20 months ago.
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Bold Puppy. (spider)
Well done , my friend. Superb graphic, eye grabbing contrast, and excellent bokeh. A fine photograph all around.
Posted 20 months ago.
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Marquisde
Much more powerful, simple, and eloquent photograph with good bokeh that is soft, accentuating the color and shape of the flower a the Royal Botanical Gardens.
Posted 20 months ago.
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Bold Puppy (argiope spider)
Yes, the patterns are wonderful. In my imagination I can see the bokeh patterns as a city, with the argiope hovering above it (instead of trees and ground, where you were in reality). Anyway, your fill flash and contrast of the soft bokeh get us right in on the argiope.
Thanks for sharing.
Originally posted 20 months ago.
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Jimages Digital edited this topic 20 months ago.
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Bold Puppy (dragon-damsel)
I see what you mean about the circular shape, and color of the bokeh circles. They do match the subject beautifully.
Another way to see this photograph might be with a crop of the bottom, so that there are only two bokeh circles, and the plant starts with its leaves at the bottom of the photograph.
However, I do think your framing works, because of the beauty of the bokeh.
Posted 20 months ago.
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max lag
A talented series of photographs. I see we agree on the x100. Can't wait to begin photographing with one. . .
The timing on the running black dog with red bone in his (her) mouth is superb. Wonderful bokeh there also (as we all know the 1.4D is famous for it).
The daskunst image also works, it's a photograph one could look at again and again, and get levels of meaning each time.
Originally posted 20 months ago.
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Jimages Digital edited this topic 20 months ago.
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Turtle: my intent is to balance the focus on the eyes with the right amount of defocused bokeh elsewhere...
Posted 20 months ago.
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the purpose for bokeh, in a two person photograph, can be to define the relationship between them...as well as their relationship to the photographer
Originally posted 20 months ago.
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Jimages Digital edited this topic 20 months ago.
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A crop and a 'autofix' in picknic did this:
Posted 20 months ago.
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may I join in? I think this meets the criteria of the thread ;)
I loved watching him create our lunch, loved the little green jagged 'mtns' he'd just added... I wanted to take a shot of it, but wanted to show/ imply him, as the creator of it, too.
Posted 20 months ago.
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This was taken wit my new Nikkor AF-S 85mm f/1.4G at f 1.4 and a Nikon D700. As always I shoot fully opened so I can isolate the subject from the background.
Posted 20 months ago.
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Shot with a Nikon 50mm 1.4. Wanted the glass sharp with some blur from the foam....
Posted 20 months ago.
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shot with a Canon 70-300mm IS lens wide open... makes me feel like breeze connects all things
Posted 20 months ago.
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I'm a very, VERY amatuer snapper and I really don't have much of a clue if I'm honest. I only joined Flickr a couple of weeks ago and before that I thought bokeh just referred to the little dots of light or smudges of water in an image. Now I've got my eyes opened I love it! I really want to take more photos with the effect and looking at all these fantastic shots has given me loads of inspiration. Thanks folks, this Flickr carry on is so educational! Anyway, here's one of mine:
Posted 20 months ago.
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I'd like to "go back to basics" in commenting on the photographs above, to ideas for why we create bokeh:
BOLD PUPPY: Ok, your crop was effective, IMHO, because the 3 or 4 bokeh circles compliment the main damselfly. One thing you do very well is choose the color of your background, and in this case, black or dark tones let the insect pop out from the background with good contrast. The reason to have blurred defocused circles, as you know well, is to compliment, and harmonize, with the main subject. Thanks for persisting and sharing the second version. Jim
SILVERWOLFE(sushi and chef)
I think that's sushi, anyway. could be sashimi.
The reason to create bokeh is to tell a story, and this shows a pro use of bokeh, and the soft fade from subject to background you've created, to do that - we immediately read the message! Excellent.
Formally the photograph goes beyond bokeh. There is a skewed rectangle on the lower half of the frame (the plate) and a triangle on the upper half (the tones of the chef). Taken together, this is very fine seeing, and it would even work well in BW because of this structure.
GLENNinJAPAN
With a photograph of a group of harvesters at a Fall festival, Glenn also used bokeh to tell a story, of one person, as part of a group of many people. His photographs get right into the soul of Japan, and he deeply understands the individuals, and groups, he is photographing there. It's an honor to have Glenn as part of this bokeh thread, and I've learned lessons about bokeh from taking many trips to his Flickr photostream. Thanks Glenn.
ICEMAN (beer and foam)
I like this photograph because of how you contrast the white foamy texture of the beer foam with the crazy multi-hued table. It just works. While I think the white in the upper right, as light colored bokeh, could have been cropped out, it's not always possible to eliminate all distracting elements in a background.
The beer image tells a story in a word: anticipation!
Thanks for sharing. Feel free to comment
ADRISBOW Photography
One suggestion: I might crop out the two minor plant elements at bottom below the main plant.
Stunning bokeh here. Your comment about breeze connecting all things goes right to the heart of why we create bokeh. It is symbolic. Photographs are about moments. In each of these, there can be a symbol. To you, in this image "BREEZE" is the symbol and the connections is has to living things.
The colors of your background also beautifully underscore your main subject. Well done.
Originally posted 20 months ago.
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Jimages Digital edited this topic 20 months ago.
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CHILD of DANU
Roisin,
I like how you are using photography to get in close, in great morning light, to explore. Keep doing that. Hope you share some more in this discussion.
Your lilies, mushrooms, and pink flowers in your photostream are all wonderful subjects you could come back to again and again.
Some thoughts:
1. Not having a clue is a great place to be.
2. Exposure is the foundation of a photograph. You are letting in too much light, and your images are over-exposing. Try adjusting the exposure to let in less light ( -1. -2 compensation, smaller aperture, or faster shutter speed).
3. Get inspiration on exposure from living, working people. Google David DuChemin, Chase Jarvis, TWIP, Mary Ellen Mark, Amy Arbus, anyone who you like and study how they handle lights and darks, and do their exposures.
4. A "snapper" is a fish. A photographer, like you, takes photographs.
Don't point, shoot, or snap. Make photographs.
5. Bokeh is not "an effect" . It is a way of thinking about
a) what is my main subject
b) how much of my main subject do I want in focus
c) what are the qualities (light, texture, hue, grain, fuzziness, creaminess) of the out of focus areas in my photograph and how can I create these to tell a story, harmonize with my subject, and master the space apart from the form of the center of interest.
Jim
Originally posted 20 months ago.
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Jimages Digital edited this topic 20 months ago.
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Wow, thanks for all the tips Jim! I did notice what you mean about exposure, though I because I'm just finding my feet with this I wasn't really sure how to articulate exactly what I thought was wrong. I've taken all your advice on board; looking forward to getting out now and putting it into practice! And I'll be googling those guys too. You know, this is exactly what I mean about Flickr; I feel like I've just been given my own wee personal tutorial. Thanks again and hopefully I'll have something to post again soon,
Roisin.
p.s It's interesting that you picked up on the fact I used the term 'snapper'. It was actually a conscious decision; I feel like a bit of a pretender and like I'd be overstepping the mark calling myself a photographer. It's silly, I know. But you've made me feel a little more comfortable about it. Make photographs indeed :)
Posted 20 months ago.
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I took this Calla Lilly, in some nice light. I wanted just a bit of the flower, and spotted leaf in focus. I hope this is appropriate for the thread:)
Posted 20 months ago.
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TWO PONY's
yes it is. I like this because you've created a
highly unique composition. instead of putting the
center of interest in a sweet spot, you've placed it just right of center,
and to my amazement, pulled it off, as there are really two centers of interest. What makes them work is that the bokeh area, back left, is just the right size, and color, to pull us back to the foreground leaf, and also that the neutral gray of the background compliments the purple and green.
So, to my eye, you succeeded. Well done, thanks for sharing.
Posted 20 months ago.
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The background was my back yard... dog was on my bed (where he's not normally allowed, but he just got a bath and a haircut). Went for maximum blur here at f/2.0 ...
Exposure 0.006 sec (1/160)
Aperture f/2.0
Focal Length 135 mm
ISO Speed 50
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash was certainly used - the 580 at 1/4 power with the diffusion screen pulled down and set on the counter behind me and to my left. A white pillow provided some fill on his left side.
Posted 20 months ago.
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Thanks for the invitation, Jim
Posted 20 months ago.
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Bokeh blows out the flower's background to make it a deep rich red. The focus is squarely on the little head of the flower stem to give it greater impact.
Originally posted 20 months ago.
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mondocheesemonster // photography edited this topic 20 months ago.
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Bold Puppy
The use of bokeh is fine, and the pillow fill seems on to me, but do you
think perhaps the main light (580 ex II) is a little bright?
MUNDO POCO
Your spider has personality here, which says a lot for the photograph, and its thin depth of field and soft, smooth macro bokeh. I think the image is beautifully lit, and works well. Thanks, hope you'll share more of your work. (just for my own knowledge, what diffuser is that on the strobe?).
MONDOCHEESEMONSTER
Thanks, hope you too will post more of your fine work. The red, and small area of flower in focus work well together, and shows an excellent understanding of bokeh.
Cheers to all.
Jim
Originally posted 20 months ago.
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Jimages Digital edited this topic 20 months ago.
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PORTAITS and BOKEH
My intent was a razor thin depth, but this portrait is too close to him, and there is not enough space around him, so , to me, it's not really a successful portrait, but feel free to comment.
When a good portrait grabs your eye, it has many of the qualities of LIGHTHACK's portrait of the train conductor earlier on page 4 of this bokeh thread. The train conductor has qualities of bokeh, and portraiture combined beautifully.
Originally posted 20 months ago.
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Jimages Digital edited this topic 20 months ago.
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Jim, sorry about the late reply, but the diffuser is a section of plastic cut from a cup and attached over the top of the lens with a bare 430EX positioned a few inches overhead. I added a small photo of the setup that can be found if you scroll down through the comments here.
Posted 20 months ago.
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Thanks for inviting me to add my picture!!!! I am thrilled to be asked to be included in this collection of awesome bokeh shots. =)
Posted 20 months ago.
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I like to think I harmonised the bokeh with the subject here.
Posted 20 months ago.
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This is my second pic i have posted to this thread, i hope that is ok?
Posted 20 months ago.
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Hm, some interesting discussions here. I went back through my photo stream and realized I have uploaded only a few pictures with significant background blur. Most of my pictures have a lot of DoF.
This got me thinking as to why. One very obvious reason is my fondness for wides and ultrawides, I'm always looking for a situation to whip out a 15mm or somesuch.
The other reason i realize is that quite often when I take a picture with the deliberate intension of shallow DoF, I tend to over do it and shoot wide open too close. It looks Ok on the LCD but after I review them, I realize not enough of the intended subject is in sufficient focus and I wish I had stopped down just one or two stops.
Anyway heres one picture with copious amounts of bokeh :)
Here the intension was to draw attention to the centre whilst leaving enough context to create the association with the pentagon shape.
I would love to hear what Jim and other members of this discussion think.
It is perhaps unsurprising that both of these pictures were taken on a Nikon F-mount converted Leica 90mm f/2 summicron-R which I bought primarily for the way it rendered backgrounds.
Originally posted 20 months ago.
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nhilmy edited this topic 20 months ago.
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Hi Jim,
Thank you for commenting my pictures in your bokeh discussion. Real commenting (not just "this is good") is worth a lot.
Thanks again!
BR Tobias :-)
Posted 20 months ago.
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Yes, sorry it took awhile to say ..Thanks for commenting on the pic I posted. Really appreciate the views on why it worked :))
Posted 20 months ago.
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Farmgirl
Your imaginative "Go Somewhere" photograph
uses bokeh beautifully. I like the soft light, the gradual fade of the
transition from focus to out of focus that you created, and most of all,
I just like the IDEA you chose . The camera in the background, and the red lines on the map compliment each other, and the postcard cursive and the block letters of the Scrabble tiles also work well together. All in all, a wonderful photograph. Thanks for sharing.
Posted 20 months ago.
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Tristan
For trolley bokeh, there is not enough interest in the main subject to catch my attention. I get that you are using bokeh, but the center of interest, the trolley, sort of leaves me with a 'so what' question. Maybe you can write some text to explain to us what you are trying to do...
thanks.
Jim
Originally posted 20 months ago.
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Jimages Digital edited this topic 20 months ago.
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nhilmy
Ok, good. The bokeh is creamy and smooth in the portrait, and the hues in the bokeh are interesting also. She is so beautiful, I think I would take the time to spot retouch the blemishes on her chin, as that would make it more complimentary.
For the pentagon shaped plant, the Leica F2 bokeh is stunning. Truly a lovely quality to the bokeh, and your use of it, to create a pentagon structure for your photograph, shows an advanced understanding of how to use bokeh in the service of the subject, which is what this discussion thread is all about. Well done.
Posted 20 months ago.
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My intent was to have the viewer focus on the barn swallow in the middle, using foreground and background bokeh, but I don't think I succeeded, because the bird in the foreground is too sharp.
Jim
Originally posted 20 months ago.
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Jimages Digital edited this topic 20 months ago.
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Hi Jim, thanks for your comments and suggestions, I think I shall revisit the spot removal on the portrait. It's rare to find such a long lived and educational thread on flickr, I will continue to keep tabs on this and hopefully contribute more to the discussion :)
Posted 20 months ago.
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nhilmy,
welcome. when it fits with your flow, your comments are
always appreciated here...
Posted 20 months ago.
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"Henge" is an abstract, a stone in water. It's also a tessellation, meaning the left and right sides are identical to each other, a mirror image of each other ( See John Caponigro's work online, and my Tesselation set).
For bokeh, it's subtle, as I tried to have it harmonize with the texture of the stone. I think in hindsight I could have opened up a stop or two more to blur the water reflections even more, to get more separation between the COI (the stone) and the background water.
All comments and criticism are welcome. Or, just post one of yours...
Posted 20 months ago.
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Hello :) . I was kindly invited to post my picture here, so let's go !
This picture was taken at a Zombie Walk, and the point was to emphasize the movement of this sweet zombie girl :)
Hope you like it, feel free to criticize ;)
Posted 20 months ago.
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Hi Jim,
Hopefully with this pic i am starting to understand the use of bokeh. I wanted to make the illuminated leafs stand out, but to regain some part of a tree-like background too.
With my trolley pic i obviously failed to create an interesting subject matter, or a "story" to make it interesting. (I did however like the colours and halos of light). :-)
Tristan.
Originally posted 20 months ago.
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tris1972 edited this topic 20 months ago.
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dr.zuiko [deleted] says:
zuiko om mount 50mm f1.4+olympus e330
www.flickr.com/photos/54617048@N06/5096309109/
Originally posted 20 months ago.
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dr.zuiko edited this topic 20 months ago.
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Hi Eleonore
It's fresh, unique, and unsettling too... the way you created the frame adds mystery and enhances the spookiness. I also think it's an excellent use of bokeh, which boosts the twisting movement . So, your goal of showing the movement was successful, with a thoughtful combination of bokeh and how you framed the Zombie. Yikes, so good.
Jim
Posted 19 months ago.
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Hi Tris
This is more interesting. Your lighting and color is good. The background could have been even a stop more blurred, i.e. one stop wider open for more soft background, to my eye. Also, watch your edges. You have a leaf at upper right, and a branch at upper left that draw MY eye, personally, out of the composition and away from the center of interest.
Jim
Posted 19 months ago.
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Dr Zuiko
Congrats on being the 400th post to the thread. Please post a picture, not a link.
Posted 19 months ago.
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dulgee v.2.0 [deleted] says:
Could have used a 135mm f/2 lens to blur out the bg even more, but felt this allowed some thought about where she was, what she was doing there. you know, mystery. if I want a neutral bg, i can shoot in the studio.
Originally posted 19 months ago.
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dulgee v.2.0 edited this topic 19 months ago.
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Hi Dulgee, thanks for sharing.
I'm glad you photographed her there; it does indeed let the viewer ponder where she was.
The entire portrait is top pro; the relaxed mood, sensual fashion, the vignette, and your vertical copyright with email (can I copy that? its unobtrusive yet still gives buyers a chance to find you).
Back to bokeh; this background does have mystery, and you've back and rim lit her beautifully, so the detail vs blur balance is perfect.
Please comment on others, and share your work when the mood is right.
Jim
Originally posted 19 months ago.
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Jimages Digital edited this topic 19 months ago.
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