[Activ]

Official BimmerPost Photo Contest #37: Bokeh-licious

BACKGROUND:

We all know you love bokeh, so this is the time to give it some lovin'!

THEME:

This is a relatively easy theme so go crazy! I want to see your most delicious bokeh you can get. Get creative with it! Don't just put the camera out of focus and shoot, add something in the foreground that is in focus.

Have fun with it! Good luck!

IMPORTANT DATES:

Entries must be submitted to this thread no later than Monday, June 19th @ 11:59 PST. Voting begins the following day and ends on Saturday, June 24th.

RULES:

1. Any interpretation of the theme that falls within Bimmerpost.com rules is welcome.
2. You must be the person that took the photo. Previous photos are acceptable as long as you are the one that captured the image.
3. One submission per contest.
4. Images must be no larger than 800 px in any direction. Links to larger images are allowed but you must have one that is under 800px for the poll.
5. All contestants must host their own pictures (which includes hosting them on Bimmerpost).
6. All images must have a title.
7. While post processing in Photoshop is allowed, adding or removing parts of the picture is not. In the event a photo is suspected to be "photo-chopped," the contestant will be asked to provide the original picture.

[Chewy734]

good theme Trevor... looking forward to this one.

[ShopVac]

OK...I'll admit I had to look up Bokeh first (as I thought we'd be taking a picture of some type of Indian food)

So...being new to this, how would I go about getting this particular affect from the camera? It's more than just a close up or out of focus shot. I'm willing to learn...I'm willing to try...point me in the right direction.

[Chewy734]

Originally Posted by ShopVac

OK...I'll admit I had to look up Bokeh first (as I thought we'd be taking a picture of some type of Indian food)

So...being new to this, how would I go about getting this particular affect from the camera? It's more than just a close up or out of focus shot. I'm willing to learn...I'm willing to try...point me in the right direction.

The effect is essentially inherent to how images are captured through a lens by a camera. Bokeh is basically the blur that happens. It could be intentional, but generally it's what helps separate the foreground from the background (where the bokeh happens).

An easy way to do this is pick up a lens with the widest aperture you have (f/1.2, f1.8, f/2.8, etc) and focus on an object. Everything in the background (the blurriness) is bokeh. Generally people describe bokeh as being creamy, soft, smooth, etc.

[M_Six]

I understand bokeh and know how to create it, but does anyone know of a good explanation for why it happens? What is it about wide apertures and close focus distance that causes the blur? And why do small apertures extend FOV?

[Chewy734]

Originally Posted by M_Six

I understand bokeh and know how to create it, but does anyone know of a good explanation for why it happens? What is it about wide apertures and close focus distance that causes the blur? And why do small apertures extend FOV?

Ken Rockwell explains it pretty well in the bottom of the first section:

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/bokeh.htm

[dcstep]

Common yellow-throat warbler:


Common yellow-throat warbler by dcstep, on Flickr

My 500mm f/4 always has smooth bokeh, but I particularly like the green background here caused by shooting in the deep woods. That's cottonwood fuzz around the bird and on the leaves that are in focus. I used the tripod and gimbal to shoot at 1/80th second, f8 and ISO 200 to get all the detail that you can see if you link to the Large or Original size over at Flickr.

I considered using another bokeh shot because bokeh is such a common technique in wild bird photography, but then I thought that just because it's common doesn't make it any less good.

Dave

[TL]

Congrats on the win Trevor

Originally Posted by Chewy734

good theme Trevor... looking forward to this one.

here's mine

Brooklyn Bridge Bokeh by GQjai, on Flickr

[rodi]

Originally Posted by Chewy734

Ken Rockwell explains it pretty well in the bottom of the first section:

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/bokeh.htm

Chewy, Nooooooooooooooooo!

[Chewy734]

[rodi]

"sideways bokeh okay?"

[skinrock]

Tough choice, but I like the transition in this one. Sharp focus on the subject, then smooth bokeh to the rear


Guitar Bridge by skinrock

[M_Six]

Originally Posted by Chewy734

Ken Rockwell explains it pretty well in the bottom of the first section:

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/bokeh.htm

Thanks, Chewy. Rockwell explains the facts of DOF and bokeh, but not the physics behind it. It's like someone explaining that a heavenly body of X mass will have a gravity of Y. The moon is 1/6th the mass of Earth, so the gravity is 1/6th. But no one can explain why any given object has gravity.

But the Zeiss article he links to does a better job of explaining the actual physics. It's a little hard to slog through, though, because of its technical nature and because it is translated from German. Still, the article has some very good points to consider, most of which are conveniently printed in bold.

[M_Six]

And I can see already this is going to be a very tough competition. The first few entries are all excellent.

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by rodi

"sideways bokeh okay?"

Love it!

Tilt-shift lens?

[Litos]

wow - looks like i made it just in time.


here's mine


"Feeding Time"

[rodi]

Originally Posted by dcstep

Love it!

Tilt-shift lens?

yep. thanks!

Guys, check out this dude on flickr, he does a good job at this bokeh stuff. http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrbokeh...7600057720789/

[Chewy734]

mrbokeh?

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by rodi

Guys, check out this dude on flickr, he does a good job at this bokeh stuff. http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrbokeh...7600057720789/

Now you did it. You gave them all kinds of great ideas.

That's the kind of stuff I was thinking about when I hesitated to use one of my very "traditional" bird with bokeh. Still, I'll leave the bird in as an example of bokeh at work without calling attention to itself.

Dave

[FStop7]

updated my entry

[M_Six]

From what I've been reading, there is a difference between bokeh and out-of-focus (OOF) areas. Bokeh should have minimal, if any, straight lines showing. Or in other words, straight lines, even if they're fuzzy, indicate "bad" bokeh. Dave's bird pic is what would be considered awesome bokeh as the trees in the background show no definition whatsoever. The "mrbokeh" site has some shots, like the subway station, that really aren't bokeh at all; just OOF areas.

For the purpose of this contest, it probably doesn't matter. But hard core bokeh fans will argue the point to death. And as bokeh is really in the eye of the beholder, I guess there is no true standard.

[rodi]

Originally Posted by dcstep

Now you did it. You gave them all kinds of great ideas.

That's the kind of stuff I was thinking about when I hesitated to use one of my very "traditional" bird with bokeh. Still, I'll leave the bird in as an example of bokeh at work without calling attention to itself.

Dave

oops. sorry.