Camera Basics #15 - What is actually the bokeh? The magic of photography!
The magic of photography has always been characterized by its aesthetics of cropping and the play of light and shadow. The word bokeh comes from Japanese and translated means something like "blur" or even the "blurriness". Other adjectives that could describe the bokeh from Japanese: beautiful, silky, gentle or incredible.
The bokeh effect is meant to direct the viewer and guide the eye to what's important - the main subject of your shot.
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Understanding Japanese Culture (Philosophy of Zen)
In the Japanese language there are many terms that stand for a certain aesthetic. This comes from Zen Buddhism. Zen Buddhism is much about harmony and tranquility between different objects. A soft bokeh calms the mind because it directs the eye to the subject and has a calming effect on the eye, while a restless bokeh and associated eye-steering tends to trigger the opposite, as the eye roams much more through the image but finds no resting point.
Why does a bokeh occur?
Short answer: shallow depth of field or an open aperture.
But the more detailed answer follows now: Any lens can produce bokeh. The distance to the aperture and the focal length play a role here, but so does the sensor size. The aperture primarily determines how much is sharp in an image, but the distance can also influence this sharpness. As you can see now, the bokeh depends on several factors.
For example, the depth of field in a macro shot can be very shallow even at an aperture of f/18, because the distance to the subject is much smaller.
Bokeh exists not only in the background, but also in the foreground. An old saying among photographers is "foreground makes picture healthy," because the foreground and background can help shape the middle ground, among other things, in portrait, macro, or landscape photography. A blurred path leading to the model guides the eye to the model in the center without distraction.
Bokeh Characteristics
In order to determine the character of a bokeh, we have tried to explain a bit of the philosophy and the reasons for a bokeh. But now to the characteristics, which also determine the quality of the bokeh.
Bokeh is now an issue with every manufacturer, and rightly so. The characteristic is determined by the number of blades of the lens. The rounder the lamella structure is, the rounder the bokeh balls will be . A good value for a pleasant bokeh is 9 blades.
The Swirly Bokeh, is perhaps to the one or other vintage lens collector a term, since there some pearls like the Helios 44-2 exhibit such. It is here that open aperture fixed focal lengths usually play along. A swirl is the effect where the highlights in the image turn in further and further at the edge and the viewer is steered to the center of the image. Especially old lenses show this "error", because it is a calculation error of the lens groups. Today, this error is deliberately sought, because we are in a photographic time in which the imperfect is just perfect.
Special features of some lenses
Maybe you also know one or the other special lens. We've had one of those on our blog in the past, too - the Canon RF 85mm F/1.2 DS can't be compared to other lenses with the same f/1.2 aperture, because it has extra coating on each individual glass element that softens the bokeh balls even more, making the overall bokeh look softer. But Laowa, Sony, and Fujifilm have also built special lenses that have a certain characteristic that sets them apart from other optics. The manufacturer Lensbaby in particular has made a name for itself in recent years for building particularly artistic lenses.
A very special bokeh is offered by anamorphic lenses, these optics have always been used for cinema, but the flares in the bokeh are special. These align horizontally and enstsehen by equalizing the compressed image. This is how the bokehballs become elongated.
The effect of the sensor
Every aperture you choose changes the strength and purity of the bokeh. The bokeh of a crop sensor like APS-C or MFT is harder or sharper than the bokeh of a full-frame or medium-format sensor. Shooting at the same settings on different cameras with different sensor sizes will result in different images because sensor size affects depth of field.
The influence of the focal length
Depth of field, like bokeh, can be greatly affected by focal length. A telephoto focal length reduces the depth of field and brings the background closer (background is compressed) when it is in the blur. A wide-angle usually has a greater depth of field and the background looks further away than it does in reality.
The classic 50mm lens offers a good compromise here, often provides a very pleasing bokeh, and is already available to many photographers for a slim buck.
Background and foreground for a pleasant bokeh
The sea or water can serve as a sparkling bokeh sea when photographing an object in the foreground, other ideas for nice bokeh effects are:
- Fairy lights
- Street lights
- Water drops on a pane
- reflecting surfaces
- Puddles
It is important that your bokeh has a certain uniformity, otherwise a certain unsteadiness can appear quite quickly.
Bokeh in portrait photography
Where, if not in portrait photography, is bokeh so popular? It's one of the stylistic devices you almost always use, because it helps storytelling and image composition alike by drawing your eye to the model.
The best tips for bokeh in portrait photography
- use a fixed focal length or a zoom lens with a continuous open aperture
- play with the distance from you to the model and the distance from the model to the background
- experiment with leaves, flowers, or other objects for bokeh in the foreground
- use the body, e.g. the hands or legs of your model to lead the viewer through the focus gradient
- use the automatic focus for face and eye, if available
- work with an aperture below f/2 or f/2.8 to get a nice cropped image
- use the Golden Hour for especially emotional snapshots with a golden bokeh
Sony
7Artisans
7Artisans AF 85mm f/1.8
TTArtisan
Viltrox 16mm F/1.8
Tamron
Bokeh at night with street lights
In the recording of our photo days you can see Christian Laxander playing with the light and the settings of the camera with the Sony Alpha 7 IV in our shopping mall:
Tips for photography in the dark
- turn on your IBIS / image stabilizer if available
- use the image stabilizer of your lens
- shoot under aperture f/2.8 if possible
- use reflections from wet surfaces
- play with the colors of the city at night
Bokeh in wildlife photography
Pet photographers, who often shoot dogs and cats, can't do without a lot of cropping with a strong bokeh. The favorite lenses here are, of course, besides a 70-200mm with an aperture of f/2.8 and fixed focal lengths, such as an 85mm or also a 135mm. Animals move a lot and sometimes unpredictably; through the telephoto range you have a greater free exposure. Here, however, we'll just scratch the surface for a moment.
DIY Bokeh Effects
We had an interesting and inspirational panel at Photo Days from our dear Luise Blumstengel, who showed us a wide variety of creative techniques, including on the topic of bokeh:
Surely you also know shots of hearts or stars, which are reflected in the light points of the shot. This is relatively simple to realize - you simply cut the desired shape out of black cardboard, and then attach it to the front of your lens.
Creating artificial bokeh with Photoshop and Co.
If you blur a sharp shot afterwards, you will usually get an unrealistic transition. In Photoshop you can work with the filter "Lens Blur", in which you can set different radii that calculate an artificial bokeh. You should have cropped your subject and possibly have the background restored or balanced with AI beforehand. If you select this background and draw it now sharply over the function you get a relatively acceptable result.
You can also apply this lens blur effect in Affinity. To do this, you should first create a new Live Filter layer and then apply the Lens Blur filter. There you can control some properties and use them to influence the implementation of the filter.
Bokeh example from photos at night
Bokeh individualized with prism
DIY bokeh with a cardboard stencil in front of the lensA little task for you:
Play with your camera and the settings of your aperture, as well as with the distance to the subject and see how the bokeh changes. This is how you learn to work with your existing equipment and explore the limits of your equipment.
Show us your pictures on Instagram and/or Facebook and tag us @fotokochde! We look forward to seeing your results!
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