Sofia Alves of Photographias is the host for the LAPC #194- BOKEH Photo challenge
Many participants for this ‘BOKEH’ challenge have contributed beautiful bokeh photographs with detailed explanations of ‘Bokeh’ helping the non-photographers to understand the concept.
Thank you, guys! You rock!!
Why should a photographer know about Bokeh?
Bokeh plays an important part in portrait and macro photography.
Because Bokeh makes photography visually appealing.
What is Bokeh?
Simply put Bokeh is the blurred part of an image.
It’s the amount of blur in the background or foreground of the subject.
The out of focus area looks soft and creamy.
“Boke pictures are proof that, being out of focus is beautiful too” Sayoo
Important note
There is no right or wrong Bokeh.
You have to go on experimenting with your lens.
Ultimately ‘beauty in the eyes of the beholder!
But remember the quality of Bokeh depends on
- Aperture of the lens.
- Focal length of the lens
- Shape and number of aperture blades
- Focus distance
- Crop factor
And for a beginner, it’s nothing but many trials and errors.
Don’t get disheartened if you are not successful but regular practice makes you perfect.
“Photography is painting with light! The blurs, the spots, those are errors! But the errors are part of it, they give it poetry and turn it into painting. And for that you need as bad a camera as possible! If you want to be famous, you have to do whatever you’re doing worse than anyone else in the whole world” Miroslav Tichy
B L U R I S T H E N E W B E A U T Y!
Below I am providing some examples
Pigeon with soft bokeh background
Here, both the foreground (the wall) on which the pigeon is resting and the pigeon are sharp and the background is blurry with soft yellow to green coconut tree leaves.
Spider web with creamy bokeh background
Notice the soft blurred appearance background leaves.
Candles with Altar light decoration in the background
Notice the background where the Altar decoration lights become circular due to the circular blade of the aperture
A word of caution!
It’s better know that with the development of AI, one need not invest in those costly lenses (fast lenses with the lowest wide aperture) and the low-cost software can do the trick.
For example, I phones ‘portrait mode’ or Luminar AI’s portrait mode or even Topaz Mask AI and adobe related photoshop products can do the same wonder.
Can one differentiate between what I call ‘Natural Bokeh’ with ‘AI Bokeh’ (Fake bokeh)?
I am not sure about this.
But I doubt whether the AI fake bokeh can achieve the same results what I shown in the example of candles with Altar lighting where bokeh is circular.
Photography pundits say Fake bokeh is OK with web blogs or social media platforms but not ideal for taking the prints.
But these days does anybody spend enough money on these costly photo prints?
I don’t know.
As an experienced photographer, what are your thoughts on Natural bokeh vs AI bokeh (fake bokeh) my friend?
I am giving an example of AI bokeh.
AI bokeh (Topaz Mask AI)
Can you make out any difference?
Thank you for your visit.
Take care, my friend.
Namaste
Philo
You can check my other similar posts HERE
Image by © PTP-2022 All Rights Reserved
If you are interested to participate in the Lens-Artists photo challenge, follow each of the following hosts to get updated.
Schedule of LAPC hosts
Week 1 – Tina of https://travelsandtrifles.wordpress.com
Week 2 – Patti of https://pilotfishblog.com
Week 3 – Ann-Christine aka Leya of https://lagottocattleya.wordpress.com
Week 4 – Amy of https://shareandconnect.wordpress.com
Week 5 – John of https://photobyjohnbo.wordpress.com
Week 6 – Sofia of https://photographias.wordpress.com
Week 7 – Anne of https://annegeephoto.com
Week 8 – Guest Host TBA
A very interesting question you’ve posed there Philo – we can indeed blur backgrounds in the products you mention, and I suppose some do. I’m a bit of purist myself but hey – whatever works!! Beautiful examples.
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Thank you Tina Schell.
Just like you I prefer Bokeh produced naturally by the tele lenses, macro lenses and wide aperture lenses.
But AI slowly occupying the space and one need not spend fortune.
Since photographers are artists…anything is OK.
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Gorgeous post. I’m for whatever works for you to achieve what you’re looking for, it’s all about creating 🙂
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Thank you Sofia Alves for this inspiring theme .
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Great selections. Good tip on that Portrait Mode.
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Thank you John.
🙏🙏🙏
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Wow! Just … wow, to that first image.
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Thank you my friend.
🙏🙏🙏
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