It’s magical. Mysterious. In its abstract blur, it puts your focus on light and shape.
It’s this lovely little phenomenon called “bokeh”. We’re all intrigued by it, aren’t we? It’s always worthwhile to utilize during a session…
or just for your own personal photography satisfaction.
Bokeh is defined as “a Japanese term for the subjective aesthetic quality of out-of-focus areas of a photographic image”. Sometimes it’s in the form of a smooth creamy background, and other times it’s these lovely, out of focus points of light you see above (and below).
With the abundance of twinkling lights this time of year, I thought I’d do a quick tutorial of how to capture a little holiday bokeh in your own photos!
It’s so much easier than you think! Simply go out and find some twinkly lights, some sunlight streaming through a line of trees, or even taillights from passing cars as you stand on the sidewalk at dusk (yep, I’ve done that myself). Place your subject several feet in front of the lights (the farther away the lights are, the “softer” the circles generally are, I’ve found). Put your camera in manual mode (or at least aperture mode – AV, A), open your aperture (f-stop) as wide as it will go, and shoot!
Your lens and aperture will determine the shape of your bokeh, for the most part. If you are stopped down (like f/4, f/5.6), then the shape of your bokeh will be more obviously six-sided, eight-sided, etc. If you’re wide open (I was between f/2 and f/1.4 for most of these), then you should be able to produce more rounded circles.
You can even get a little crazy and put your camera into manual focus mode and shoot a little more abstractly. The three images below were shot in succession at f/1.4… I just turned my focus ring until the Christmas lights were as out of focus as I wanted them to be.
There are also lens filters that allow you to shoot bokeh hearts and other fun shapes, and there are an abundance of groups on flickr if you’d like to browse through more samples of this beautiful phenomenon!
So go ahead, turn on those Christmas lights, put your camera into manual mode, and go for it! I’d love to see the beautiful bokeh you create!
*The Creative Mama is planning some wonderful tutorials and photo challenges beginning next week and lasting throughout 2011. We’d love to know a few processes and subjects you’re interested in learning more about! Feel free to comment below, or drop us a line at thecreativemama.info@gmail.com. Can’t wait!
Co-editor, Stacey Woods is an on-location, natural light lifestyle photographer for the Tampa Bay, FL area. Her favorite subjects are expecting mamas, the tiniest of babies, and children of all ages. Her online photo journal can be found at Stacey Woods Photography. Stacey’s own husband and children (a 6-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter) are her greatest source of inspiration… and laughter!
