What is Bokeh?

Bokeh is an important concept to know if you want to do close up photography, such as macro photography, insect photography, flower photography, product photography and anything where you need to get close to your subject.

It is also directly related to depth of field, which I discussed in my article What the Hell is Depth of Field? 

When I began my photographic journey and invested in my first macro lens, I would spend hours in the garden taking photos of flowers and whatever caught my eye.

The resulting images were my first encounter with bokeh but I had no idea. 

As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, I started to read more about photography and learning about it after I had been experimenting for a while. I imagine that you are in a similar position. You’ve probably heard mention of bokeh or your browsing these articles to learn something new about photography. 

Well, it was the same for me. I saw mention of bokeh in relation to using a macro lens, but I didn’t really take much notice. I saw examples of images with bokeh and they reminded me of my old images from the garden. 

Fast forward and I started to learn about depth of field, during researching this concept and trying to wrap my head around it, I saw mention of bokeh again. And as I read about depth of field, I understood what bokeh was and what I did when I was younger. 

So, What is Bokeh?

To put it simply, Bokeh is a shallow depth of field. If you read my article on depth of field, I hope that that makes sense. If you haven’t read it, don't worry, I’ll explain further. 

If you remember, depth of field is created from the aperture of the camera, the distance from the subject and the focus point you are using on the subject.

A shallow depth of field means that only the immediate area surrounding the focus point is sharply in focus, while the background and surrounds are out of focus and blurry. This effect is what is known as bokeh. 

You might be wondering why bokeh has a special name if it is just a shallow depth of field. The real meaning of bokeh is to use a shallow depth of field for artistic creation or effect.

In other words, using a shallow depth of field strategically to create an impactful image. 

How to Create Bokeh

The easiest way to create bokeh is to use a lens with a very wide aperture, preferably an f stop of 2.8 or wider. That’s why it is quite a common technique for macro photographers, as most macro lenses have a maximum aperture of 2.8. 

The next important part is distance from your subject. Again being close to the subject by using a macro lens enables you to have a small area in focus. The focal point will be in focus along with anything the same distance from the lens but anything closer or further away would be out of focus. 

This isolation of the point of focus can be used creatively for an image, and the surrounding bokeh makes it stand out in a sea of blurriness. Let’s look at some examples! 

Example 1

This image comes from a day of macro photography one autumn weekend in Kent. After arriving in the woodlands and exploring the leaf litter for interesting fungi to photograph, I found this gem.

Getting into position was difficult, lying on the ground with my camera on a tripod. I ended up choosing the gills as my focus point, which also brought a portion of the top into focus as well. 

The background blurred beautifully creating a wonderful bright green landscape from which the mushroom stands out. If I had photographed it from a higher angle the background would have been brown muted tones from the leaf litter, but by getting low to the ground I could use the foliage of the trees and bushes instead. 

By using a wide aperture and being the correct distance from the subject and background, the bokeh of the image makes the mushroom stand out far more than if the entire picture had been in focus. 

Example 2

Wandering around in woodlands, I’m never sure of what will catch my eye on any given day. This image came from a wander in a forest in summer. There was a large stack of cut wood from the forestry efforts of the owner. The strong ring pattern captured me, so I framed it with my camera. 

In contrast to the above image, I decided that this one would benefit from no bokeh at all. I closed the aperture down to f/8 and put the centre of the rings just off of the centre of the frame.

I wanted to capture the rings as they are what captured my attention. If I had chosen a wide aperture of f/2.8 only the portion that was in the focal point would have been in focus and the rest of the rings would have been blurred.

By choosing a closed aperture I eliminated the bokeh because that was not the effect I wanted for this image. 

Knowing how to eliminate bokeh and when not to use it is just as important as knowing how to create it and when to use it. For this particular image it would have been a mistake. 

Example 3 

This image comes from the pond in my family’s garden. I lied on the edge of the pond and used my Canon 300mm f/4 lens to capture this frog during mating season. It was a few hours well spent.

Because I was able to get so close I could afford to use a shorter lens. The relatively small aperture and distance from the subject created a bokeh effect.

The frog and more importantly its eye is completely in focus, but the background and foreground are both blurred. This isolates the in focus frog in a sea of bokeh. 

Bokeh is not exclusive to working with subjects close up with a macro lens. You can create it with wildlife by being the correct distance away from your subject and by using a wide enough aperture.

The bokeh effect for the frog would have been more pronounced by using a 300mm f/2.8 but that’s a rather expensive lens and I couldn't justify the expense. You can still create a good bokeh effect by using an f/4 lens if you are positioned correctly. 

Conclusion 

I hope that my explanation and examples have made it easier for you to understand what bokeh is, and how you can use it for creative effect. As I mentioned in the introduction, it is intrinsically linked to depth of field. Really it is just depth of field used strategically for image creation.

The most common way of creating it, is by using a macro lens and creating images of close up subjects. But it can be created with wildlife by using a wide aperture and being the correct distance from the subject.

Bokeh is isolating a focal point in a sea of blurriness and can create striking images.

You can use my Top 10 Composition Techniques in conjunction with Bokeh to create some really interesting images!

With all this in mind, the best way to learn the technique is to have a go yourself! Experiment with distance and apertures to try and create artistic images. 

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Written by Daniel Long

Daniel Long created DRL Photography as a place to showcase his work as a photographer. Daniel has learnt a lot about photography and wishes to impart this knowledge with you, although the world is an ever changing place and he always says “you can never learn everything.” So as he makes his way, he continues to learn knew techniques, skills and information about photography. He focuses on Landscape and Wildlife photography and Daniel has a special focus on Scotland, his home away from home. As well as writing about photography and taking pictures out in the field, Daniel offers guided photography days so he can share his knowledge and locations in an effort to give his clients the best opportunities possible. Have a browse around this website to see his images, guided experiences and articles about photography. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to get in contact.