In photography, bokeh is the aesthetic quality of the blur produced in out-of-focus parts of an image. Bokeh has also been defined as ” the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light “.
Differences in lens aberrations and aperture shape, cause very different bokeh effects. Some lens designs blur the image in a way that is pleasing to the eye, while others produce distracting or unpleasant blurring (“good” and “bad” bokeh, respectively).
Photo on the left side, show you a good example concerning a quite good or pleasant bokeh effect. Subject it’s clear and sharp. It’s in focus, when instead the background, it’s rich of spots lights.
Photographers may deliberately use a shallow focus technique to create images with prominent out-of-focus regions, accentuating their lens’s bokeh.
Bokeh is often most visible around small background highlights, such as specular reflections and light sources, which is why it is often associated with such areas. However, bokeh is not limited to highlights; blur occurs in all regions of image which are outside the DOF (Depth of field).
Which lens can be used, to create a pleasant bokeh ?
I did a thorough research,before trying to take bokeh images
I’ve verified that there are modern lenses on the market that offer a very good bokeh effect, but often at a very high cost. On the other hand, some manufacturers currently have specific lenses in their catalogue to achieve this effect in images.
Following how I found on internet, these are the best actual modern lenses (no one tested by me).
Canon EF 50mm F1.8 STM.
Sigma 85mm F1.4 DG HSM | UN.
Nikon AF-S DX 35mm F1.8G.
Fujifilm XF56mm F1.2 R APD.
Sigma 105mm F1.4 DG HSM | UN.
It is clear from this list that all lenses are fast or very fast. With aperture below the value of F2.8. That is, lenses that enhance the ability to “capture” light. Focal length it mainly depends on the type of photography you prefer and how you use it.
Macro lenses are also normally quite fast lenses, generally with F2.8 and what is written for vintage lenses also applies to macro lenses.
So being for me a ” total new ” way and I’d say ” world ” of photography, I opted for vintage lenses. The offer in terms of costs is definitely within everyone’s reach, and there are some very good vintage lenses to achieve this effect in images.
My choice was to try a focal range from 135mm to 28mm with a minimum aperture of F2.8.
Aside from an F3.5 lens (Minolta 28mm), the rest of the acquired lenses have a fairly fast focus. You can check every single lens purchased in the list on the site, and relative shots taken with each of these.
I don’t like bokeh effects that are redundant, in my personal opinion too many lights in the background of the photo could be invasive and distract the eye’s attention from the main subject of the photo.
The photographed subject must remain the main element of the photograph, and the bokeh must eventually further enhance and highlight it.
Considering manual focus (as also for macro optics), and the right depth of field, it is therefore possible to obtain a pleasant bokeh effect. As always, exercise and constant application are valid in order to obtain appreciable results.
Here you can see, some photos and than below, the related lens used.
Obviously and as always, the aesthetic evaluation of photography is subjective and personal.
These are my general considerations regarding the bokeh effect, which I apply particularly to nature photography. It is obviously possible to apply it to any photographic genre, in particular to portraits of people. I believe that in the coming months I will enrich my collection of vintage optics, and experiment with the subject further. I therefore do not exclude enriching this page with further contents deriving from my direct experiences.
