New Cestrian

By BHPPhoto

Ohhh Bokeh Bokeh Bokeh...

The word "Bokeh" keeps cropping up these days when pixel peepers refer to lenses on forums and reviews. eg: "The new Nikofujahatsicomm 50mm 1.4 lens has great bokeh at it's widest aperture". I've been a pro' for damn near 30 years and to be honest, until very recently I didn't have a clue what these people were on about. All is clear now or indeed unclear since "Bokeh" refers to the quality of the out of focus part of an image when a given lens is shot at or near it's widest aperture. Well I did know that, it's nothing new and photographers have been using this to great effect for years, it's just that we didn't have a word for it. It was the photographic equivalent of dark matter. Now it has been refined and defined in one helpful Japanese word. "Bokeh".
You want great bokeh? Get a lens with a fast aperture 1.8 or wider. You'll have to dig deep into your pockets though because "great bokeh" doesn't come cheap.

Comments
Sign in or get an account to comment.