Brokeh

[blsweeney]

How do I get Brokeh?

[OsmosisStudios]

BOKEH is the japanese term for the quality of the out of focus areas of an image. When you take a portrait, for instance, you generally want a fair small amount of the image in focus to draw the eye. Whatever is out of focus is bokeh.

You can see how the background in this image is completely out of focus. Bokeh refers to the quality of that blurring. In this case it's not bad: not great, but not terrible.

[darosk]

Brokeh is what happens when you buy too much camera gear

[CaptainNH]

Originally Posted by blsweeney

How do I get Brokeh?

You'll get the best bokeh out of you lens if you shoot with your aperture wide open (low number). Having your subject close to your camera and the background much further away will also help.

Here's one of mine.....


This was shot at f/2.8 with the subject about 1.5m away, the background in the far distance is around 15m away.

[CaptainNH]

Originally Posted by darosk

Brokeh is what happens when you buy too much camera gear

LOL Darosk

[dcclark]

There are a few ways to get Bokeh (no r!):

Choose a large aperture (such as f/1.4, f/2.8, etc. -- the smallest f/value you can get). The larger the aperture (smaller f/values), the less in focus you will have.

Also, zoom in on a close subject. The things in the background of such a photo will be a bit more out of focus.

Lenses can have "good" or "poor" (or many other adjectives) bokeh, but you can definitely achieve it with any lens.