The magical world of bokeh.

Dear friends, in anticipation of the holidays, we are publishing tips on how to create magical holiday photos with bokeh effect. We'll be waiting for your bokeh photos and additional tips in the comments.

Many photographers use the bokeh effect when photographing colorful holiday lights. If you set the settings manually, you can defocus the lens to create a similar effect. This image was taken at 1/80, F/4, ISO 5600, aperture priority.

Want to know how to photograph party lighting to get even better bokeh than in professional photos? It's best to use aperture priority shooting or manually set the exposure to control the aperture and shutter speed.

Light as the main object
For an image where the only subject you're shooting is holiday lights, it's best to focus on a shot of a Christmas tree or a large cluster of lights. If you have a tripod, mount your camera on it or place the camera on a stable surface. If you're holding a Nikon, turn on the in-lens image stabilization by activating VR.

Use a wide aperture of f/4 or larger. If you're shooting in aperture priority mode, you'll need the slowest shutter speed possible. You also need to make sure the exposure is set correctly. Don't be afraid to increase your ISO. The secret to taking amazing shots of soft, colorful balls of light is to manually focus your camera while leaving the lights out of focus.

Using only ambient light, the photographer was able to direct all attention to the Santa Claus figurine. The toy soldier in the background is out of focus due to the photographer's large aperture setting. This enhances the bokeh effect created by the holiday lights. Settings: Shutter speed 1/20, Aperture f/5.7, ISO 640, Aperture priority.

Light as a background effect
For an image where you want to preserve the bokeh effect for the background, set up your camera in much the same way. The only difference is that the main subject should be a person or object located close to the camera.

By using a wide aperture and focusing on the main subject, you will leave the light in the background out of focus. For a softer, shimmering effect, move the lights further away.

This photo is an example of how to focus on the subject in the foreground. The light in the background allows you to create a classic bokeh effect, and the background helps to highlight the subject. Settings: shutter speed 1/80, aperture f/4, ISO 4500, aperture priority.

The article was translated from the site

06/05 11877

Bokeh (from English bokeh; Japanese 暈け or ボケ - “blur”) is an aesthetic effect obtained by an image that is out of focus, i.e. outside the depth of field area.

Bokeh is not a sharpness control; objects in focus can have very different blur patterns. Our subjective attitude to such a picture is called bokeh.

A flawless shooting lens focuses light from a point source into a perfect cone shape. The top of this cone, touching the matrix or film of the camera, creates an image in the form of a minimum point in size. The size and shape of the dot depends on the quality of the lens. If the light reflected from the lens is not focused on the surface of the matrix, then the image takes the shape of a disk. This disk is called the circle of confusion or scattering. A sufficiently large number of these circles can create a certain aesthetic effect.

Thus, bokeh occurs at shallow depth of field. You can adjust the size of the scatter circles. It depends on:

• camera format sizes;
• lens focal length;
• relative aperture size;
• distances from the central object of the photo composition to the background;
• distance from the camera to the subject being photographed.

Bokeh and its quality.

It is unlikely that you will be able to evaluate the quality of bokeh. Any assessments will be highly subjective. It is not measured in any mathematical units. It’s better to talk about the appropriateness of bokeh in a particular frame. Ito, there may be discussions about this. However, try to make the bokeh soft: “dissolve” the background so that it does not interfere with the perception of the main objects of the composition. If your bokeh effect is harsh and distracts from the central object, such a frame will be difficult to perceive.

Properly placed bokeh will consist of circles of blur, evenly lit and with fairly clear edges. One such disc can be beautiful in itself. But when the background is blurred so that many circles with sharp edges distract attention, it greatly burdens the composition.

It is almost impossible to create the perfect lens today. Developers only to some extent solve the problems of distortions (aberrations). The level of these distortions affects the shape and illumination of the scattering spots. Therefore, real spots have a somewhat blurred edge. Several of these spots differ from each other in brightness depending on their location relative to the center of the photograph.

Bokeh looks beautiful in which the brightness of the blur decreases evenly from the center to the edges. This is a consequence of not fully corrected lens distortions. Thus, a design flaw becomes an artistic advantage.

The opposite effect occurs when spherical aberrations are overcorrected. In the picture this is manifested in the fact that the brightness of the circles of blur increases from the center to the edges. There is a “ringed” effect in the photo. For some, this is an abomination. Others are delighted with such a creative phenomenon.

If you shoot with a zoom lens, and even with a high magnification, you can monitor the change in the quality of the bokeh. It is affected by focusing distance and focal length. In general, this is normal, since the developers are trying to reach a compromise solution.

In any case, you will not be able to create perfect bokeh across the entire focal length range. In addition, lens creators pay more attention to the geometric correctness of spots than to their artistic value. When optimizing the bokeh pattern, they pay attention to the aesthetics of the background, which often distorts the image of the foreground. And there is nothing wrong here. It's just that most photographers and viewers are used to seeing the foreground sharp and the background blurry. Therefore, bokeh quality is in demand for the background.

Factors affecting bokeh quality.

Shape and number of aperture blades.

The design of the aperture as a whole has more influence on the shape of the blur spots than on the quality of this blur itself. If you look closely, these spots are not circles at all. Rather, they are polygons with the number of sides equal to the number of aperture blades. Nikon lenses have 7 or 9 aperture blades, Canon lenses have 6, 7, 8, sometimes 9. Thus, spots of blur with an aperture with six blades look like hexagons. But the nine-blade aperture produces almost perfect circles. Have you perhaps noticed that an odd number of aperture blades produces more pleasingly shaped spots?

Modern lenses are most often made with slightly rounded blades. This makes the sides of the polygons convex, visually bringing them closer to a circle. 9 similar petals create a perfectly round bokeh.

If you photograph with a fully open aperture, the circles of confusion will have an ideal shape in the center of the frame, and closer to the edges they will become oval or lentil-shaped.

Bokeh and lens design.

Defocus Control Nikkor are two telephoto portrait lenses (AF DC-Nikkor 105mm f/2D and AF DC-Nikkor 135mm f/2D) that Nikon has produced since the early 90s. They are equipped with a mechanism that allows you to directly adjust the bokeh by changing spherical aberrations. With it, you can adjust the blur of both the background and foreground, as well as at certain aperture values.

Sony (Minolta) 135mm F2.8 T4.5 STF. The lens is different:

• an apodization element, with which you can smoothly blur the background;
• manual focusing.

Mirror-lens lenses (Rubinar, Reflex-NIKKOR, etc.) allow you to create bokeh for everyone: in the form of donuts or rings.

Anamorphic attachments and lenses are known to us from cinema. Bokeh is made in the form of vertically elongated ellipses.

Stabilizers.

You can get perfect bokeh if you turn off the optical image stabilizers that new cameras now come with. It turns out that stabilization systems for the most part give a certain restless appearance to areas that lie out of focus.

Contrast level

The more contrast the background and the brighter the highlights, the more clearly the circles of blur are visible and the sharper their edges. The most obvious bokeh is obtained when photographing a city at night or foliage against the backdrop of sunlight.

The color of objects that are out of focus.

There is such a concept - spherochromatism. This is the chromatic difference of spherical aberrations for rays of different wavelengths. This means that the edges of the scattering spots acquire a blurry green border in the background. In the foreground you get the same border, only crimson. You can see this better if you use long focal length lenses with the aperture wide open. The effect of spherochromatism is such that the bokeh turns out soft and beautiful when the background in the frame is green. This is why plein air photography produces successful photographs in this regard.

At the end of our conversation, let us draw a conclusion. It’s good if you don’t make photographing bokeh an end in itself. Blurring is more of a secondary effect. Therefore, shooting bokeh for the sake of bokeh itself will quickly get boring. Just remember it as a tool for shallow depth of field shots. Do not create an idol out of him, which imaginary increases your status.

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I'm sure you've seen those mesmerizing photos of blurry lights online, and many of you have wondered how best to achieve a soft bokeh effect. If this is really about you, then you have come to the right place, because... in this tutorial i will explain what bokeh is and how you can get it yourself.

1. Find out what it is

Increasingly in recent years, the term “bokeh” is used not in its original meaning. Today the word is usually used to refer to blurry lights and shapes in an image, when in fact it describes the aesthetic qualities of the out-of-focus area of ​​a photograph. So you can say that bokeh is "good" or "bad" (although this is very subjective), but essentially the term refers to everything that is in the area of ​​​​the image that extends beyond the depth of field.

The beauty of bokeh occurs when the correct aperture setting when shooting a photo results in a pleasing light pattern that creates soft patterns of circles of light, and this is the effect we will try to achieve in this tutorial.

2. Where to start

First, you need to manipulate some camera settings. To create bokeh you need a wide aperture and a short focal length. It's best to set the camera to aperture priority mode, which will allow you to dictate the image's exposure based on the selected aperture width, which needs to be wide in order to let in a lot of light.

Depending on the capabilities of your camera and the lens you are using, choose a low aperture, anything from f/1.8 to f/4, even /f5.6 will do, but the lower the better. This aperture guarantees you a nice shallow depth of field.

3. Depth of field

The next step is to check the depth of field to ensure it suits the purpose of achieving the blur effect. Make sure to leave enough space between you and the light source, and also set your camera to manual focus. To increase the likelihood of creating good bokeh, position your subject as close to the lens as possible. If you focus on a subject extremely close to the camera, this will give you excellent blur of the lights in the background.

4. Foreground and silhouettes

Once you have mastered all the technical intricacies, you can start using bokeh in your daily photographic work. Try getting bokeh in the background of an image that has an alternative focal point in the foreground, such as a person or still life subject.

Again, try to keep as much distance as possible between your foreground subject and the lights in the background. Placing the silhouette in front of your lights, similar to the subject in the foreground, also works quite well. The crisp black shape will contrast well with the soft lighting in the background.

5. Now it's your turn

So now it's your turn, all that is required is your DSLR camera and a set of small lights. Christmas lights (I know you just put them away) work great. Street lights in the distance will also give you the effect you want to achieve.

Find the time and place to practice getting the camera settings right, and when you feel ready, you can go out and start applying the skills you've learned to your work. As long as you don't overdo it, bokeh can be used effectively to create a nice softness and depth in an image without drawing too much attention. It can really make your photos better!

Every photographer and amateur photographer at one time or another strives to achieve beautiful bokeh. Creating aesthetic bokeh in a photograph is perhaps not so much a skill as it is creativity. Technically speaking, all you have to do to get bokeh is go into manual focus mode and rotate the focusing ring on the lens clockwise or counterclockwise. But beautiful bokeh is more than just a blurry background and blurry circles. We've got some tips to help you improve the bokeh in your photos.

In our previous articles (see articles and) we have already touched on the issue of obtaining bokeh. In this article, we'll look at additional ways to make your photos more aesthetically pleasing.

Camera: Canon EOS 400D. Shutter speed: 1/30s. Aperture: f/1.8. Focal length: 50 mm. ISO: 800. Exposure compensation: 0. Flash: disabled.

How to Improve Bokeh: Foreground and Background

Instead of using a subtle background that doesn't distract from the foreground (or vice versa), try to find a way to combine the two. Make sure that each element of the photo contributes to the overall appeal of the image. If there are out-of-focus lights in the background, how do they compare to the foreground? Do they represent another element of the photograph, or act as a nice incidental addition?

This technique is often seen in wedding photographs, when, for example, the bride is in focus closer to the camera, while a blurry image of the groom’s figure is placed in the background. Or when in the foreground we see a couple in focus, and the guests are in a blurry background.

Camera: Canon EOS 400D. Shutter speed: 1/160s. Aperture: f/4.5. Focal length: 35 mm. ISO: 200. Exposure compensation: +1/3 EV. Flash: disabled.

How to Improve Bokeh: Light Sources

In order to get not only a blurred background, but also beautiful glowing circles in your photo, you need to find light sources, for example, street lamps, headlights, candles, etc. — it is light sources that are out of focus that create spectacular circles of light. Once you have decided on your light sources, you need to position your subject far enough away from them, or use a lens with a wide aperture and reduce the distance between the camera and the subject.

You can find a lot of useful information in our article.

How to Improve Bokeh: Good and Bad Bokeh

Smooth, creamy bokeh without hard edges is generally referred to as “good bokeh.” On the other hand, bokeh with pronounced edges or insufficient blur is considered “bad.”

You need to remember that bokeh is created by the lens, not the camera. And if you want to achieve beautiful bokeh, then you should focus on choosing a portrait or telephoto lens - they usually produce more aesthetically pleasing bokeh than cheap zoom lenses.

An example of good bokeh:

Camera: Canon EOS 400D. Shutter speed: 1/160s. Aperture: f/2.8. Focal length: 100 mm. ISO: 100. Exposure compensation: 0. Flash: disabled.

Here's an example of a bad one:

Camera: Canon EOS 400D. Shutter speed: 1/250s. Aperture: f/3.2. Focal length: 50 mm. ISO: 100. Exposure compensation: 0. Flash: disabled.

How to Improve Bokeh: Textures

Add textures to your photos with bokeh and see how your images transform. The easiest way to do this is to focus on your car's windshield or window. You can then spray water onto the glass and focus on the texture created by the drops and runs of water. When placing defocused light sources, such as headlights or lanterns, behind glass, you will get a very interesting effect.

Camera: Canon EOS 400D. Shutter speed: 1/40s. Aperture: f/1.8. Focal length: 50 mm. ISO: 400. Exposure compensation: 0. Flash: disabled.

Besides adding textures to bokeh photos, you can use the bokeh images themselves as textures for your photos. Just put one of them on your photo and see what an interesting effect you get.

Camera: Canon EOS 400D. Shutter speed: 1/400s. Aperture: f/2.8. Focal length: 50 mm. ISO: 100. Exposure compensation: 0. Flash: disabled.

How to improve bokeh: City out of focus

Popular landmarks were photographed 100,500 times from every imaginable angle and at every available hour of the day and night. If you're hesitant to take that "obligatory photo in front of the Eiffel Tower," try looking at city landmarks from an out-of-focus perspective.

Camera: Canon EOS 400D. Shutter speed: 1/20s. Aperture: f/5.6. Focal length: 18 mm. ISO: 200. Exposure compensation: 0. Flash: disabled.

22.02.2015 7714 Photography Tips 0

Boke (from Japanese ボケ boke - “blur”, “fuzzy”, “haze”) is a term that appeared in our lexicon in the late 1990s and describes the subjective artistic merit of part of the image that is out of focus in the photograph. In many images, the background is intentionally blurred by the photographer to visually highlight the main subject of the photograph. This effect especially visualizes the appearance of glare that follows the shape of the lens aperture (bright circles that many people love so much).

There are no clear settings or measurement systems to create bokeh. The only thing that really matters is the quality of the blur. And, of course, you need to understand that there are no clear boundaries between good bokeh and bad - everyone has their own opinion on this matter.

Dmitry Markelov

I will try to briefly give some tips that can clarify the picture of this effect for novice amateur photographers.

1. Use a wide aperture

Take photographs at the highest possible open aperture (if not at the smallest value (the optical characteristics of the lens at extreme aperture values ​​are not optimal) that your lens allows, then 1-2 stops less). When the aperture is wide open, depth of field is reduced and focus is focused on a small part of the subject. The entire area surrounding the focal point will be blurred, and bokeh will be created accordingly.

Dmitry Markelov

2. Photograph with fast lenses

3. Don't neglect zoom lenses

Very often, zoom lenses are criticized for not having good bokeh quality compared to fixed focal length lenses. This is due, first of all, to the fact that the maximum aperture of a zoom lens is most often limited to f/2.8, while this value for prime lenses is much larger (f/1.8, f/1.4 and more). However, if you have a zoom lens in your arsenal, especially a long lens, you can also use it to create bokeh. By zooming in on your subject, you will separate it from the rest of the scene, thereby creating dramatic bokeh.

And do not forget that inexpensive zoom lenses have small maximum aperture values ​​at the “long” end (with a range of, for example, f/3.5-5.6 at the extreme value of the FR, the aperture value will be f/5.6), which may be insufficient to obtain bokeh and will increase the shutter speed to obtain a normally exposed photo (which, in low light, will require the use of a tripod).

Dmitry Markelov

The closer you place the camera to your subject, the more blurred the background becomes, and therefore the higher the likelihood of bokeh appearing. Each lens has a minimum distance from the lens to the subject at which focus can be achieved. Macro lenses allow you to photograph at the shortest distances, blurring most of the frame. Of course, this technique is not applicable to portrait photography, and is quite expensive.

Dmitry Markelov

5. About the aperture blades

The number of aperture blades must be indicated by the lens manufacturer in its characteristics. Some argue that an aperture with more rounded blades produces better bokeh. However, the aperture blades solely affect the shape of the bokeh, which largely depends on the optical design of the lens.

Dmitry Markelov

6. Use bokeh the right way

Bokeh should not come to the foreground (unless it is an artistic device in a particular situation). If you are shooting a portrait, the depth of field should be across the entire face of the model, and not just at the tip of the nose. Therefore, first, think over the photo, draw up a composition, and only then, for greater expressiveness, resort to using this effect, correctly setting the aperture value for each specific shooting case.