{"id":20489,"date":"2014-05-23T16:53:42","date_gmt":"2014-05-23T20:53:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/?p=20489"},"modified":"2020-09-04T22:50:23","modified_gmt":"2020-09-05T02:50:23","slug":"photography-using-lens-bokeh-design-element","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/photography-using-lens-bokeh-design-element\/","title":{"rendered":"Using lens bokeh as a design element"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Using lens bokeh as a design element<\/h1>\n

In previous articles we could see how a fast 85mm can be used for shallow depth-of-field<\/a> to shoot nearly anywhere by melting away the background. There’s another aspect to this – the bokeh of the lens<\/a>. The bokeh is a reference to how the quality<\/b> of the background blur is rendered by a lens. It can be smooth, or have “jittery” patterns to the edges of objects, and the highlights.<\/p>\n

Do note though that bokeh and shallow depth-of-field are not quite the same thing<\/a>. While the DoF \/ choice of aperture does affect the appearance of the bokeh of a lens, the shallow depth-of-field look isn’t “bokeh”. Similarly, you can’t do something\u00a0like “add more bokeh”. Bokeh is the\u00a0quality<\/b>\u00a0of that background blur. It’s mostly an aspect of the lens design.<\/p>\n

Now, very often, when a fast prime lens is used wide open, there’s a kind of swirly feel to the background blur – and if you’re aware of this, and find an appropriate background, it can really accentuate the portrait.<\/p>\n

The image at the top of Jen & Corby,\u00a0was shot at f\/1.4 and you can see how the background behind them has a distinctive circular swirl to the out of focus high-lights.<\/p>\n

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Stopping down to f\/2.8 you can see this characteristic has changed subtly. In other words, the bokeh has changed. The look to the background blur has changed. (Co-incidentally, the DoF also increased.) While with this second image I did change my position, and the two images can’t be directly compared for specific detail, you can see that the characteristic<\/strong> of the background blur has changed.<\/p>\n

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Camera settings\u00a0for\u00a0the image at the top: 1\/320 @ f\/1.4 @ 200 ISO<\/p>\n

Of course, at such shallow DoF as f\/1.4 and photographing a couple, extra care need to be taken to ensure they are both in focus.<\/p>\n

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Here is the 100% crop of the image at the top which was shot at f\/1.4 and I knew that not every shot would work.\u00a0The DoF is so shallow that it feels if you just breathe, your focus is out! So you have to get used to the idea that your success rate in terms of sharp images, will go down.<\/p>\n

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Summary<\/h2>\n

The way the background blur (the bokeh) appears, will differ from lens design to lens design. And a fast aperture is not necessarily an indication that the bokeh will be great. Many fast 50mm lens designs are notorious for having poor bokeh. Fast 85mm lenses tend to have wonderful bokeh, and this is something you can play with – using that specific look. Not all 85mm lenses have grey bokeh though. The Nikon 85mm f\/1.8D had notoriously poor bokeh, but this was fixed with the f\/1.8G update. Check review\u00a0of the\u00a0Nikon AF-S 85mm f\/1.8G<\/a><\/p>\n

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Related articles<\/h2>\n