What is `bokeh`?

P

Philx1979

Suspended / Banned
Messages
987
Name
Phil
Edit My Images
No
I keep seeing `bokeh` coming up on my reading`s can anybody please shed some info on what it is please.

Sorry if its been posted but couldn`t find it.:)
 
Basically its where the background is completely out of focus and you get circles of blurred light.
 
Grant said:
Sometimes I wonder whether people know what Google is.
Click to expand...

Yeah, truly shocking coming on to a tog forum and asking a photography question :D I found this forum through google, and it's always useful having info like this centralised. I'd never heard of Bokeh, so would never have thought to google it, but seeing it here, I now know what it is ;)
 
Philx1979 said:
thanks guys, thanks for the wisecracks too.
Click to expand...

Your Welcome :D

Tbh, I wish they would come up with some proper English word for it - sounds like some weird sexual practice.
 
Foggy said:
Your Welcome :D

Tbh, I wish they would come up with some proper English word for it - sounds like some weird sexual practice.
Click to expand...

Yeah it does sound weird, didnt think i`d get so many cracks for asking though.

Oh well forum life i guess, i`ll think twice about asking a dumb question again sorry people. lol
 
I still haven't quite worked out how it's supposed to be pronounced.....what's the general consensus on that?

And no 'let me google that for you' links please :razz: :D
 
The answer's in the wikipedia article...Bokeh is from the Japanese word boke meaning fuzzy. It is pronounced boke-aay or boke-uh.
 
It's what BeHappy would prefer to be known as.
 
Philx1979 said:
Oh well forum life i guess, i`ll think twice about asking a dumb question again sorry people. lol
Click to expand...

The only dumb question is the one you don't ask.:)
 
What I find funny is the way some people go on about it as though it's the most important part of the photo.

If your out of focus background is more important than your main subject, would you not consider that perhaps you are doing something wrong?
 
With shallow DOF your main in-focus part of the subject will most probably not be a great percentage of the area of the image, so the background becomes more important and "faults" with it are more overpowering. Whether we see the faults depends on our experience and era. We wouldn't expect work from several decades ago to display the same regard for bokeh as today.

In computer games and TV programmes, lens flare is expected as an indicator of sunshine. Faulty technique is being used as a style. With feature films you can see some odd bokeh effects, due to the iris design being different from what we'd expect. The point is that, if we're tuned into bokeh, an odd effect reminds us of the machinery used to create the image whereas buttery smooth bokeh doesn't grate. Bad bokeh is like having a newsreader with an accent you can't stand: you miss the message because of the way it's delivered.
 
Anyone remember which lenses provided the ring doughnuts? A well sought after effect in it's time. :D
 
Mirror lenses for do-nuts and babes at the beach.
 
It was always referred to as "Out of Focus Highlights" when I first started but i suppose as most of our cameras are Japanese we should use a Japanese derived word to describe it
 
Grockle said:
Anyone remember which lenses provided the ring doughnuts? A well sought after effect in it's time. :D
Click to expand...


fondly remembers his Tamron SP2 500mm Mirror lens:)
 
They did the job they were meant to do and sparkling doughnut highlights were a welcome addition to many a sports and wildlife pic.
 
I have never really understood Bokeh but my understanding is helped me by the pic i took--crap pic but think of bokeh and this is what think helps me understand.

Bokeh.jpg
 
This was one of my first attempts with the minolta 50mm lens

dsc00222.jpg
 
Ahhh...I Wondered why I couldn't find a bunch of flowers in the photos on here.. when others comment on nice bokeh...
 
My effort from a couple of days ago.

harmonica2.jpg
 
Forbiddenbiker said:
Go way passed the circles and have a silky smooth background... (shot in a tropical greenhouse)
You can see the dof disapearing as it goes down the stem.

Pinkfloyd.jpg
Click to expand...

BalSanghera said:
This was one of my first attempts with the minolta 50mm lens

dsc00222.jpg
Click to expand...

Irish/Rover said:
My effort from a couple of days ago.

harmonica2.jpg
Click to expand...

See from what I understand of the quote below, none of the above have Bokeh :shrug: Or am I understanding it wrong?

Here is the quote taken from wikipedia:

Bokeh characteristics may be quantified by examining the image's circle of confusion. In out-of-focus areas, each point of light becomes an image of the aperture, generally a more or less round disc
Click to expand...

This is my take on what Bokeh is: :lol: You should have seen how many sets of lights were put un on the wall to create this one!
3104049457_5ae56f6063_o.jpg
 
Grant said:
Sometimes I wonder whether people know what Google is.
Click to expand...

Sometimes I wonder what a forum like this is for, if people with geniune questions about photography are just re-directed back to where they (probably) came from in the first place :thinking:!?

.... But then, I see posts like the ones immediatley above this one and realise that, actually, the whole point of this forum is that there's a lot of expertise gathered here and the more patient and considerate amongst the members, can offer a comprehensive set of explanations, examples and background information (no "bokeh" pun intended :D) to the likes of me, the OP and anyone else who happens to be browsing these forums for the first time. Hurrah! :clap:

Thanks folks!

[/THINLY_DISGUISED_RANT] ;)
 
Good image there Jo. Shows exactly what "bokeh" is (apart from the fact that it is mainly just pretentious language from people who struggle to get a sharp image at times :D), it's background highlights that have been rendered out of focus through the photographer's choice of a shallow depth of field.
 
Those out of focus background highlights appear as discs of light/colour for it to be called 'Bokeh' though. That's how I understand it anyway.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top