pronounced bl-u r-ee bi-ts

BOKEH• Bokeh is a photographic term commonly used to express

the quality of the out-of-focus image.• The term comes from the Japanese word boke, which

means "blur" or "haze", or boke-aji, the "blur quality“.• Bokeh is pronounced “bo” as in bone and “ke” as in

Kenneth, with equal stress on either syllable.• It is sometimes pronounced boke-uh.

BOKEH• Bokeh describes the appearance, or "feel" of out-of-focus

areas. Bokeh is not how far something is out-of-focus, bokeh is the character of whatever blur is there.

• Bokeh is often most visible around small background highlights, such as specular reflections and small or distant light sources

• However, bokeh is not limited to highlights, as blur occurs in all out-of-focus regions of the image.

TWO TYPES OF BOKEH• Cream Cheese Bokeh is known by the almost “gradient”

effect it creates. This type of bokeh is commonly used on portraits or nature photographs and produces a background that is completely washed out or blurred, resulting in a very smooth and pleasing background that really makes the subject stand out.

• Hollywood Bokeh is known for its distinctive softening of the highlight areas resulting in lights or reflections in the out of focused area being very soft and round…yet still distinctive.

BOKEH TIPS• You will need a relatively fast lens (preferably around

F/1.8), and use a mid-range focal length around 50mm.• You can still get good results using an aperture around F/4

but may need to get even longer in the lens, so try 70 -200mm.

• Focus with the subject as close as possible to the camera.• Keep the background as far behind the subject as

possible.• If shooting at night or in low light use a tripod.

CREAM CHEESE BOKEH

HOLLYWOOD BOKEH

HOLLYWOOD BOKEH• The background = bokeh blurred lights and highlights.

HOLLYWOOD BOKEH• The foreground = subject relatively close to camera, may

require additional lighting if ambient lighting is insufficient.

HOLLYWOOD BOKEH• Add foreground bokeh of lights between the camera and

the subject for even further depth effect.

BOKEH VIDEO DEMO

Photoshoot with Christmas Lightsby Irene Rudnyk

www.youtube.com/watch?v=81E_0IHnk4g