Photography Tips | How To Get Beautiful Bokeh

© 2014 Wazari Wazir | Portrait of My Daughter Arianna

“Bokeh” has evolved somewhat from its original meaning. Bokeh is now commonly used to refer to blurred lights or shapes within an image, where as, the term more accurately describes the aesthetic quality of the out-of-focus area of a photograph. Therefore, it is possible to have ‘good’ or ‘bad’ bokeh, (although that is purely subjective), but in essence, it’s all about the area of an image that falls outside the depth-of-field.

In photography, the term bokeh represents the quality of the magical out-of-focus blur that makes it look like the subject is isolated from the background. It is visually appealing for us to see a photograph with a soft, creamy and beautiful background. Why we need to make the background out of focus? So that our main subject stand out from the background, that’s one of the reason why people like to have some kind of bokeh effect especially when taking a portrait. 

Here is some tips on how to get great bokeh:

USE LARGE APERTURE : You need to use large Aperture to get a beautiful bokeh or top throw the background out of focus. That’s one of the reason why 50mm lens with f/1.2,  f/1.4 or even f/1.8 is among the most favourite lens, some other people also like to use 85mm f/1.8 or f/1.2 as their workhorse lens for doing portraiture.

The point is you need to use large aperture if you wanted to get a beautiful “bokeh” or turn the background out of focus. For the photograph of my daughter Arianna above I use Aperture f/2 to turn the background out of focus, I’m using Canon 50mm f/1.4 lens but decided to use f/2 instead of f/1.4.

It can be quite difficult to get our subject sharp if we use big aperture like f/1.4 or f/1.2 if you have one. The reason is that, using big aperture will create a very shallow depth of field, once you miss the focus, everything all be blur, that’s why I rarely put my aperture  at f/1.4. So my point is try using an aperture of f/2 or f2.8, but later on you can use the widest aperture that your camera have once you have a steady hand or depending on your subject, photographing a toddler like my daughter age is difficult, why? Simply because they don’t know how to stand or sit still for a few seconds, always moving around. You can try using f/1.2 or f1/8 if you have an adult as your subject, those who can stand or sit still.

USE LONGER FOCAL LENGTH : If money is not a problem, get a longer focal length like 135mm f/2 or 70-200mm f/2.8 lens. The longer focal length with large aperture will always produced a better bokeh than a normal standard lens like 50mm. But the longer focal length that you use means that you have to distance yourself a bit far from your subject and not really suitable for indoor or small studio photography. Why I’m using 50mm lens? Because it doesn’t cost so much compared to 85mm f/2 or 135mm f/2.

USE FAST SHUTTER SPEED : Since using large aperture will create a very shallow depth of field, you need to use fast shutter speed, for the photograph above I use a shutter speed of  of 1/500 and 1/640 respectively. In the photograph above, my daughter appeared to be “calm” but actually she is moving a lot, her head rarely stood still, even for a few seconds, always on the move. So using fast aperture is a must.

Most people when using large aperture rarely pay attention to the shutter speed that they are using. The subject may appear to be super sharp in the viewfinder, meaning that the subject is in focus but the moment you click the shutter, your camera start shaking a bit and if you are not using really fast shutter speed  the end result will be, your subject is out of focus also. Always pay attention to the shutter speed that you use when using large aperture, especially photography a subject that doesn’t know how to stand still.

For a start if you are using 50mm lens with aperture set at f/2, make sure that the shutter that you use is no lower than 1/100. If you are photographing a subject that always shake his or her head like a toddler, then, increase the shutter speed to 1/250 or even 1/500. But remember, by increasing the shutter speed, you also need to pay attention to the ISO that you are using, sometimes you need to push the ISO from 100 to 500 if you decided to use fast shutter speed, otherwise your picture will turn out darker than what you want it to be.

GET CLOSER TO THE SUBJECT:

The other thing that you can do to maximize bokeh effect is to get closer to your subject where possible. The closer your lens to your subject meaning you will get a blurry background. You have to try it to understand why, try using f/2 aperture and get as close as possible to your subject, if possible try to get to the minimum distance that your lens capable of focusing and  see the result. That’s why macro photography subject have a great bokeh, why? Most macro photography shot were taken with a very close distance between the lens and the subject. That’s why there is macro lens and normal lens, macro lens let the photographer to get really close to the tiny subject and the result is  beautiful bokeh.

After that, you can also increase the distance between your subject and the background, the farther, the better. Take a look at my first photograph above, I get closer to my daughter and the bokeh is much more beautiful than the bottom one where I step back a little. The distance between my daughter and the background remain the same but you will get a better bokeh if you try to photograph closer to the subject.

CHOOSE A PLAIN BACKGROUND :

If possible choose a plain looking background, the background will also break or make your picture. Avoid a background that were too bright, they will only become a distraction for the subject. In the photograph above, the background were a dead tree covered dry leaves. I did not use flash for the photograph above, the lighting were natural, than;s to the overcast day which produce a beautiful soft natural light. The most important thing is that, you choose a background that ill make your subject stand out from the background.

Now, go a head and try it for yourself and come back home with a gorgeous looking bokeh that you can proud of.