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

1. Aperture of the lens.
2. Focal length of the lens
3. Shape and number of aperture blades
4. Focus distance
5. 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