Bokeh

At digital photography school, this week's assignment is Bokeh.

That's the blurry effect in some photos where the subject is crisp and sharp while the background is blurred.

Here's a long mp3 about pronunciation. I haven't made it through the whole thing yet. If you click that link, you'll hear a photographer discuss bokeh, complete with music. It could be a nice background while you're reading this post.

Try as I might, I always forget how to get bokeh, so I must torture my subject by photographing them over and over.

I like the bokeh in this picture, but Bailey's expression looks a little downtrodden to me!

Even the most highly paid models, sometimes get to take a break.


At the end of August, I struggled to get bokeh with this rose photo.


I also accidentally got this effect just last week.


Before I'd even heard the word bokeh, I accidentally got another example by shooting our dogwood tree looking down from a second story window.

I had a major bokeh fail on this shot. I wanted to blur the powerlines, cars and houses in the background and emphasize the flowers on this front porch. I knew one of the settings for the camera, but I couldn't remember what else to adjust.

The main use of bokeh is to blur a background to emphasize your subject. But another good use for crafters is to blur the background to hide something messy (which is a way of emphasize a subject - but it's also a way of de-emphasizing a mess.)