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After writing a surprisingly successful journal entry a few days ago, I've decided I'll be trying to update this as much as possible - thanks for all the support everyone! You're amazing!
There are so many more topics in photography I think people would find very useful. Years ago, when I first started dabbling in photography, I was always so fascinated by the 'bokeh' effect in backgrounds, and often attempted to get the same effect but to no avail. What was I doing wrong? I had a good Canon slr and a kit lens of 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 - shouldn't that be enough? WRONG! I started again from scratch, researched every possible tutorial existed on the web... I realized I was doing all the wrong things!
How to create beautiful Bokeh
1. Large aperture works best, so use a low f-stop number like f1.4, f1.8 or f2.8.
2. The best lens I ever bought was the Canon 50mm f/1.8, creating soft beautiful bokeh light in the background. I remember I only paid around $100 for it, so it really isn't that expensive as opposed to other lenses!
3. Experimenting with focus - I soon found out that being CLOSE to the subject and FURTHER away from the background (lights) was the most effective way to create bokeh.
4. The obvious - LIGHT in the background! It can't be a consistent kind of background, there has to be some form of lights in the background. I discovered plain yellow/white fairy lights and used them quite often in concept/still life photography for a prettier background. I've also used standard christmas lights.
5. Remember that the shutter speed must be faster than 1/60, otherwise the bokeh won't turn out as well. In past experiments, I've tested this indoors and realized I could still use my Canon speedlite flash and use a faster shutter speed to create an excellent bokeh effect.
6. Want to see my Bokeh photography in action? I've uploaded a simple & quick video to demonstrate my set up: Click here to see BOKEH!
DIY - Create your own Bokeh!
Feeling excited and adventurous with photography? Why not try out some different shaped bokeh effects!
DIY Photography has demonstrated a very clever way to fake heart bokeh lights! Easy, make a lens hood yourself!
In the middle of the filter specific bokeh shape is cut out - in out example a heart is used. But you can check it right away by just looking through the viewfinder. On the 50mm lens @ F1.8 a 15mm heart gives a metering value equal to F3.2, so it can probably be a little bigger (you can use a puncher or cut it by hand).
Beautiful Examples of Bokeh
More Bokeh Resources!
How can I properly set up my camera to create a bokeh effect?
Video tutorial on creating bokeh cut outs
dSLR Bokeh Photography tutorial
Exceptional examples of Bokeh
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`anmari has been spreading her infectious positivity throughout our community for over 6 years. Throughout this time Ana has been at the core of all things devious, passionately developing an eclectic gallery, helping organise devmeets, participating in chat events and also recently completed dedicating her time as a Community Volunteer. We are absolutely delighted to bestow the Deviousness Award for May 2013 to `anmari, congratulations! Read More
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Thanks U so much Darling
but this is a great article Sarah!
BUT , I was wondering , not everyone may have a good expensive camera like most of the photographs here on dA have ( talking about Canon , Nikon etc ). So , what about those ppl who would really like to experiment in photography but cant afford a good camera ? Do this advises work on other type of cameras ?