HOW TO USE BOKEH CREATIVELY

A lot of photographers spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to create bokeh and how to use bokeh creatively in their photography.But what IS Bokeh?

Bokeh comes from the Japanese word boke  which means “blur” or “haze”. Simply put, Bokeh is the blurred quality or effect seen in the out-of-focus part of a photograph.

Taken with Canon 6D and Canon 100mm 2.8 lens

Settings: Aperture f/3.2 Shutter Speed: 1/500 ISO 3200

But how do you GET bokeh in your photographs? How do you do it on purpose? To use bokeh creatively( and on purpose) in your photos,  I have 3 tips for you…

Settings: Aperture f/2.8 , Shutter Speed 1/500 ISO3200

1. Select a wide open/low aperture.

Wide open apertures such as the f/2.8 I used in the photo above, will decrease your depth of field and give you the creamy background you want.  Usually f/2.8, f/ 1.8 or f/1.4 are best is you go this route. But keep in mind that the wider your aperture, the smaller your slice of focus will be.

Settings: aperture f/3.2 Shutter Speed 1/500 ISO 3200

2. Focus on the area you want to be in focus.

In the photo above, I knew I wanted to focus only on the tulip. So I set my focal point to be on the tulip and used a lower aperture of f/3.2. Now my subject is truly the subject and the bokeh is a beautiful bonus.

Settings:f 5.6 Shutter Speed 1/125 ISO 3200

3. Put your subject far away from the background you want to be out of focus.

In the photo above, my aperture was f 5.6. The trick here was that I moved the tulips to a taller vase, taking them further away from the table that is being used as my background.  Therefore achieving bokeh at a smaller aperture.

Those are my tips to use bokeh creatively!