All About Bokeh

What is bokeh?

This is how Wikipedia explains it:

Bokeh has been defined as "the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light". However, differences in lens aberrations and aperture shape cause some lens designs to blur the image in a way that is pleasing to the eye, while others produce blurring that is unpleasant or distracting—"good" and "bad" bokeh, respectively. Bokeh occurs for parts of the scene that lie outside the depth of field.. Photographers sometimes deliberately use a shallow focu technique to create images with prominent out-of-focus regions.

Bokeh is often most visible around small background highlights, such as specular reflections and light sources, which is why it is often associated with such areas. However, bokeh is not limited to highlights; blur occurs in all out-of-focus regions of the image.

Another good definition comes from Photo Tips & Sips:

"Bokeh" in photography terms is basically the . . . blur in the background of an image, specifically the types of shot where you are trying to highlight a singular subject, such as a portrait or a macro.  By blurring the background and having the focus on your subject(s), you help draw attention to where you want it. 

Photographylife explains it this way:

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 “DOF” 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.

From SLR Photography Guide comes a more expansive explanation.

What is bokeh and DOF?

Depth of field (DOF), refers to the area of an image that is in focus. You have most likely seen images where the main subject is in focus, while the background is out of focus or totally blurred  The area that covers the focused area is the DOF (depth of field). Bokeh on the other hand, refers to the appearance of the light that is seen within the blurred part of the photograph. Bokeh and DOF are important to consider for photographs when you need the main subject to stand out on its own and not be lost in background distractions.

Aren't  Bokeh and DOF the same thing?

No, bokeh and depth of field are not the same thing, although they do work together.

• DOF is seen in a photograph where there is an obvious focus area, set against a blurred background or foreground. 
• Bokeh on the other hand, refers to how your camera lens renders the light that is seen within the blurred parts of the image. Sometimes this can be soft or harsh circular shapes, or look like hexagons, depending on your lens design and aperture settings.

Digital SLR Camera settings for bokeh and DOF

Important steps to achieving blurred backgrounds with good bokeh in most circumstances, is to have:

• start with a low aperture or f number as it's also known
• if you're using a telephoto lens, zoom it out toa longer length
• move in so your physically as close to the subject as your lens will allow you to be, yet still focus properly
• photograph subjects where the background objects aren't too close behind

How do you pronounce bokeh?

Here is the best example I found from professional photographer, Matt Laur:

'Bow' (like a bow-tie, not a bow-wow from a dog), and 'keh' (rhymes with the "eh!" you say when you shrug your shoulders, not "ay" as in bouquet).

Personal comment: However, in my research, I found a common pronunciation is “boca” as in “Boca Raton” and, admittedly, this is easier than the above pronunciation although the one by Laur is considered more accurate.

In understanding bokeh, it is helpful to see examples of good and bad bokeh:

The following photos illustrate good bokeh because the effect is soft, pleasant and enhances the subject.

The photos below are illustrate bad bokeh because it is harsh, distracting and draw your attention from the subject.

Personal comment: For a number of reasons, point-and-shoot cameras are not able to produce good bokeh. After using point-and-shoots I got my first interchangeable lens camera a couple years ago and was blown away by the bokeh. If you are acquiring a new lens, you can research on the internet the quality of bokeh that particular lens produces. It might be something worth investigating before buying.

Wishing you delightful bokeh. 

Landscape Ideas for Rivers, Waterfalls & Lakes

Here's an article from what is quickly becoming a favorite website of mine, Digital Camera World. The suggestions are so appropriate for our class and the photos are great.

Landscape photography ideas for rivers, waterfalls and lakes.

jmeyer | Landscape | Photography Tips | 01/10/2012 02:00am

From shooting at sunrise or sunset, to the rule of thirds, there are loads of unwritten rules about what makes 
good landscape photography. There’s nothing wrong with following the basic rules of photography, but it’s all too easy to get stuck in a rut, producing the same old style over and over again – a single boulder in the foreground and blurry water in front of a sunset, for example.

So we’ve come up with a range of landscape photography tips techniques that you can use to breathe new life into your pictures. Each week this month we’ll bring you fresh advice on getting original shots in classic landscape locations, from lowlands and woodlands to mountains and beaches, but many of the photography techniques will be useful wherever, and whenever, you choose to shoot.

Don’t be afraid to try something new – you never know, you might even come up with your own twist 
on the techniques revealed here and go on to transform your shots.

Photo Ideas for rivers, waterfalls and lakes

From a flat, calm lake to a surging waterfall, water can dramatically change the character of your landscape images. Here are four ways to capture its different moods.

Shallow depth of field
Keeping as much of your shot in focus from front to back by using a wide-angle lens and small aperture (such as f/16) isn’t the only approach you can take when you’re shooting landscapes. Why not tryusing shallow depth of field to give your shots a completely different look?

This approach works best if you have a subject such as a flower, rock or tree in the foreground, because this gives the image a focal point.

You need to choose a wide aperture such as f/4, and focus on a subject as close to the camera as possible for the most dramatic effect.

The thing to remember here is the greater the distance between the foreground subject and the background, the more out of focus the background will be.

Shoot landscapes at water level

We’re all used to seeing landscape photography from normal eye-level, so something as simple as switching to a low or high shooting position can transform the images you take. When taking pictures of water, try to get as close to water 
level as possible – as well as giving a different perspective on the scene; this will also help to enhance any reflections on the surface of the water.

Shoot below the water
You can go a step further and get below the water for a different view of the landscape. Rather than going completely under the surface, positioning the camera so that you see beneath the surface of the water as well as the landscape above it gives a dramatic and unusual view.

Water and expensive cameras don’t really mix, though, so you’ll need a way of waterproofing your kit before you start submerging it (see panel, right). Rather than one of the expensive underwater housings, we used a cheap fish tank for our shots.

Although it does take a bit of nerve to place the tank in the water with your camera inside it, as long as you test it for leaks first it’s pretty safe.

We also attached a two-stop graduated Neutral Density filter to give a more balanced exposure between the water and the land.

With the camera in Manual exposure mode, we set the exposure before putting the camera inside the tank, and attached a remote control to make it easier to fire the camera.

This set-up is only suitable for fairly calm water, not the sea, as the top of the tank is open to the elements. Any waves will also make it virtually impossible to keep the surface of the water level, and the water on the face of the tank in front of the lens will be visible on the above-water area of your shot.

3 ways to shoot underwater with your DSLR 

Budget: 
£15 to £50
Fish tank (local pet shop)
OK, so you may feel a bit of a fool carrying a fish tank around, but it’s a good solution for this technique. The square sides of the tank make it easier to hold level than the dedicated camera housings or cases, and you can still use ND grad filters to balance the exposure between the areas above and below the water. Just make sure you test the tank to make sure it’s watertight before submerging your expensive camera kit!

2 Mid-range 
£60 to £200
Underwater case, such as one from ewa-marine or DiCAPac
These soft plastic cases are much cheaper than the solid casings, and for this technique the fact that they are only waterproof down to around five metres isn’t an issue. As with the hard housings, you can’t use filters, but they’re great if you want to take your camera into really wet locations such as under waterfalls – or even if you want to shoot in the rain.

3 Money no object 
£1,000 plus
Underwater housing, such as one from Sea & Sea or Ikelite
Designed for taking cameras deep underwater, these solid casings are available for specific models of camera and often still give access to the main controls. But they’re extremely expensive, and you can’t use filters. So, while they give the greatest peace of mind, they’re a bit of an extreme solution.

Make upright panoramas 

We’re all used to seeing horizontal ‘letterbox’ panoramic shots, but rivers and waterfalls often don’t fit this format.

However, if the river or waterfall is on a slope, it will work perfectly as an upright panorama.

The simplest way to get a shot like this is to shoot in an upright format and then crop your image into the panoramic shape.

But if you want to produce very large prints you can get a much higher-resolution file by shooting a series of horizontal images and stitching them together into a panoramic format using the Photomerge feature in Photoshop CS or Photoshop Elements.

If you’re stitching images that feature moving water, you’ll need to do some manual cloning to hide the joins, as the software will struggle to match the different images.

Books on Wildlife Behavior

There a gazillion books on the techniques of photographing wildlife but this, in itself, won't necessarily make you a good wildlife photographer. Dave Shumway emphasizes that to be a successful wildlife photographer, you must understand how these animals behave. He was raised by a father who imbued him with some of this knowledge.

As a native Montanan, I know some basic information about our own wild animals but I really should have a better understanding. I have searched for books to help me. A few years ago, I found two: Wildlife Watcher's Handbook 

and A Guide to Photographing Rocky Mountain Wildlife 

These are older books published in the late 1990s but still have worthwhile information.

Recently I went searching again to see if there were more recent publications and found this book: Behavior of North American Animals. 

                            Look Inside

It was published just a year a go and I purchased it last month. I have only been able to read a little but it seems amazingly thorough. It got rave reviews from the readers who took the time to write. 

If your goal is to photograph wildlife, these books may be a worthwhile investment.