My recent thread in the macro section, titled
Bokeh Bee, has prompted a little discussion. On a recent hike to
Lost Lake near Vail, Colorado, I encountered a very patient bee and learned quite a bit about what makes good bokeh.
So what is bokeh? There are many definitions, but the one that I like is this: Bokeh is the
quality of the out of focus portion of a picture. If this makes complete sense to you feel free to quit reading now. If you're still a little fuzzy, read on.
While walking along the trail I encountered a very still bee on a yellow flower. I had my D80 over my shoulder with my trusty 18-55mm f/3.5 - 5.6 kit lens mounted. I doubted that he would hold still for long so I quickly crouched down and shot this:
55mm, 1/60 sec, f/5.6. Not my favorite picture, but maybe if you crop in close and sharpen quite a bit you'll get a nice photo of a bee. Notice that the out of focus portion of this picture is not very out of focus. In other words, you can easily discern what is behind my subject. The thoughtful little guy actually held still, so I tried again and got this:
55mm, 1/60 sec, f/5.6. Same settings, but a better picture. Why? I got closer to the subject.
Lesson #1) Getting closer to your sujbect improves bokeh.
You can see that the out of focus portion is more blurry, allowing the main subject to stand out better. I know the framing is different, but even if you cropped the first picture (feel free to do this) and compared at similar framings, the bokeh is better in the second photo.
For some reason, he still hasn't moved. So let's try again:
55mm, 1/30 sec, f/9. In an effort to get more of the bee (and flower) in focus I "stopped down" or decreased my aperture which, in my program mode setting, also increased the shutter speed to let about the same total amount of light in. What effect does this have? More of the subject is in focus, but the bokeh is worse!
Lesson #2) Larger apertures (smaller f/numbers) make better bokeh.
Maybe it's time for me to talk a little more about what bokeh is and is not. Bokeh IS subjective. Bokeh IS NOT something you can test on a test-chart. That's why great sites like
SLRGEAR don't include it in their ratings.
So who cares about bokeh? Portrait and macro photographers primarily. Anytime where you want to have a simple subject (which should be most photos in my humble opinion) there is need to isolate a subject from it's background. There is no such thing as "right" or "wrong" bokeh. It's subjective.
So what do most macro and portrait photographers strive for?
Neutral bokeh. In my simple mind that means the smoothest and most featureless out of focus area of a photo as is possible with the given scene. My ideal bokeh (yours may be different) is a completely smooth blur of color behind a clear, sharp subject.
So what goes into making bokeh? Well, I've already mentioned two things. Read on for more of my not-so-insightful insight regarding this topic!
(Apologies to all for needing to reply to my own post, but I can't do this in the 4 pic constraint so I'll split it into 3 and 3.)