“Bokeh” is a Japanese word for blurry or dizzy. And its my new favorite search term for Etsy and Flickr photo finds. This photography trend is weaseling its way into my heart and I wanna share a few examples with you!
Subject Matter often includes Nighttime Lights, Rain, Birds, and Florals and many times features focus on the object closest to the lens. The most important characteristic of the Bokeh photo is the blur happening within the light in the unfocused area, it becomes a fuzzy round spot, void of definition!
The best bokeh results for me evoke a dreamy ethereal feeling, and are especially desirable when the photographer has found the right sun ray to pour into the frame. Like this one by Etsy Seller KristyBee. I just wanna live inside of a photo like this.
Here’s another that I enjoy by Etsy Seller Pretty Petal Studio
And who knew Nail Heads could be so cute, by Etsy Seller Helvetica Neue
Please click on these beautiful thumbnail Images below from Flickr and enjoy as I have!!
I <3 bokeh. It’s the reason I can’t get rid of a few thousand in camera lenses. :-)
Oh you love it too!!!? I’ve been wondering if I might get lucky with some experimentation using the camera that I have – to see if I could emulate this style with its manual settings.
Have you seen this DIY guide: http://www.diyphotography.net/diy_create_your_own_bokeh
Maybe I’ll try that since all the steps are there! I’d love for you to tell me some details about the types of lens that you use.. I’m a total novice when it comes to the camera and I don’t even own an SLR. (but I will soon).
Faster lenses (f 2.8 or faster), especially those of fixed focal length lenses give the best bokeh. The best bokeh I get is shooting my 85mm 1.2, 35 1.4, or 50mm 1.4 lens at anything faster than f 2.5. My 24-70 2.8 also does pretty well for a zoom.
If you get an SLR a 50mm 1.8 lens is inexpensive and can provide some decent bokeh. Shoot it at wider apertures, taking the time to focus on something close in the foreground so the background blurs.