Bustin out the bokeh · Apr 26, 10:24 PM by Simon Mackie
Bokeh. What on earth is it?
“Bokeh” (the word originates from the japanese) is a term that you’ll see photographers bandying about while discussing images and, more specifically, lenses, quite often. It refers to the out-of-focus parts of the image, and is a subjective measure of how pleasant the highlights in that part of the image are. You’ll quite often see photographers use the word “creamy bokeh” – this means very smooth and aesthetically pleasing out-of-focus areas of the image. In this example image, taken with a canon EF 50mm f1.8 lens, the bokeh (the out of focus highlights in the background) are not as nice as I would have liked:
This is due to the qualities of the lens I used – the f1.4 version of the lens produces much nicer bokeh. This is down to many reasons, but one of them is the number of blades used in the aperture, and how circular the resulting aperture is.
Compare the out-of-focus areas of the above image with those in this one:
This image was produced using a lensbaby, which has great bokeh due in part to its cicular aperture.
At the end of the day, bokeh is very subjective (one man’s “creamy bokeh” is not necesarily anyone else’s), and is a function of your lens.
It’s also important to note it’s not solely a product of the aperture blades – many of these pictures are taken wide open, and thus have a circular aperture. In a lot of cases bokeh is affected by the distortion correction applied by the lens manufacturer.
Personally, it’s not as important to me as how sharp or fast a lens is, but it is something to consider when buying a lens.
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