Experimenting with Bokeh Photography Techniques

The word bokeh comes from the Japanese word for “blur”. It refers to the way in which the lens renders out of focus points of light. This technique, produced by adjusting the aperture setting to a low F-Stop number (larger aperture), blurs all but the main point of focus of the picture.

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In this first example, aperture is set at a relatively high F-Stop (F/25.0) number (smaller aperture), causing all portions of this picture to be in focus. However, although the main focal point is the angel, you may be somewhat distracted by my cookbooks. To correct this problem, the bokeh technique can be used to draw attention to the focal point by blurring some of the detail in the background.

In the next photo, I blurred the background to increase the focus on the angle, leaving the angel clear but my cookbooks blurry. Although it now seems clear that the angel is the point of focus in this shot, you will notice that one of the angel’s wings is somewhat blurry. One reason for this is that a larger aperture produces a smaller the area of focus. The blurry angel wing lies just outside of this small area.

In the next photograph, I turned the figurine so that the entire body of the angel fits within the area of focus. As you can see, the angel, including its wings, is clearer in this picture. Keep in mind that instead of moving the angel into the area of focus, I also could have left the figurine in its diagonal stance and simply increased the aperture setting to a higher F-Stop number (smaller aperture), widening the window of focus.

In this final picture, I kept the angel facing forward (to keep its entire form in focus) but moved the books further into the background. I did this because the bokeh technique often works best when the object of focus is farther away from the background. You may notice that the books in this photo are a bit blurrier than the books in the previous photograph.

As you can see, bokeh photography is one of my absolute favorite techniques! I am always drawn to photos that successfully utilize bokeh. Although I have not yet perfected this technique, you can expect to see a lot more my attempts on this blog . . . you may have already noticed some of the blurred edges on my close-ups of flowers!

I look forward to sharing more bokeh photos with you as I continue to develop this skill.

- S. Christine