Photographic Techniques

1. Bokeh

Bokeh is a term used to descibe a deliberate blurring of part of an image. Finding an exact description on the net of what makes a good Bokeh image is pretty difficult, and it seems to be used fairly loosely for pretty much any image which is entirely on partly out of focus. There seem to be 3 main categories - the completely abstract ones which are entirely out of focus completely abstract ones which are entirely out of focus these are the ones that got me interested in the first place - the two layer ones which use the Bokeh blurring at a background for an infocus image, or a smooth transition in and out-of-focus with depth.

As a technique it's probably most commonly used in portrait photography to make the subject stand out. To get a good Bokeh effect you need to use the lowest apearture value on the camera and the effect can change drastically with the type of lens diaphragm - ideally you want enough lens diaphragm blades to form a circular aperture opening, rather than a hexagonal shape. Although you can create other interesting shaped Bokehs like this one .

Bokeh on Flickr
Photo.net article on Bokeh
Wikipedia entry about Bokeh
Flickr Discussion Group about Bokeh
Kid Bokeh
Christmas Tree Bokeh
Flower Bokeh
Bamboo Bokeh