Bokeh (pronounced BO-KAY) is literally Japanese for the aesthetic quality of a blur in a photographic image.
Often times, when someone references how ‘professional’ a portrait looks, they are referencing not only the composition of an image but how shallow the depth of field looks. Where the subject is in focus and how everything around the subject is out of focus with a beautiful blur to it. As with composition, there is an art to creating that beautiful and purposeful Bokeh.
A ‘fast lens’ is the main way to achieve this look but there are other ways, albeit requiring more work, to get that bokeh look.
Fast lenses are lenses with a lower f-stop number, also known as the measurement of aperture for the lens. Aperture is the diameter of the entrance pupil of the lens and f-stop is the ratio of the focal length and the aperture diameter. To put it visually.
Fast lenses are usually the most expensive on the market because the larger the aperture (lower the f-stop), the more light can enter the camera sensor allowing for great low light performance and an easily achieved bokeh. Typically any lens with an f-stop faster than 2.8 can achieve this effect easily.
You can use a zoom lens to achieve the same bokeh effect manipulating distance.
There are even ways to customize bokeh.
Photographers and Cinematographers often utilize background lights to build mood around scenes using bokeh. In The Good Survivor, the bar scene was a dream sequence. Our Director of Photography (Rhett Miller) added some additional lights to the set to give the location a dreamy look.
Despite COVID really bringing the Holiday season down, the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo put up some amazing Christmas lights throughout the city of Fort McMurray this year.
Check out Wood Buffalo Bokeh, where we went out with my Black Magic Pocket Cinema 6K and a 35mm T1.5 lens to capture some of the beautiful bokeh around town.
PS. If you have yet to see this year’s Your McMurray Magazine’s Top50Under50 be sure to check it out. Three Members of M’Guphynn Media (Ashley Laurenson, Steve Reeve, and Tito Guillen) were selected this year.