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Experimenting with Bokeh


11 years 6 months ago #256062 by Papabear63
I took this at a Dahlia show this afternoon, wanted to practice my bokeh. all C&C welcomed
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11 years 6 months ago #256063 by Stanly
Great shot!
Nikon Z6 | Nikon FM10 | Nikon D80 | Nikon 50mm f/1.8D | Nikon 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-S VR | 35-105mm f/3.5 Macro | 80-200mm f/4.5 | SB600 | Pocket Wizard II
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11 years 6 months ago #256078 by Papabear63

Stanly wrote: Great shot!


Thank you Stanly!
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11 years 6 months ago #256114 by MadFlasher
Great colors!
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11 years 6 months ago - 11 years 6 months ago #256160 by garyrhook
For me, the flower seems out of focus. Not sure what it (the focus point) was supposed to be. Also, the backlighting seems at an awkward angle; it might be more attractive at a lower angle (based on the tips of the central petals that appear to be sunlit). Full disclosure: not a fan of bright sunlight in much of any form.

For the background, there's not enough blur, or too much. I would suggest a much shallower DoF that is centered on just one portion of the flower, and a focal length that gets the background much more out of focus.

Again, for me.
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11 years 6 months ago #256192 by chasrich
:judge: :judge: :judge: Looking good.
“Amateurs worry about equipment, professionals worry about money, masters worry about light, I just make pictures… ” ~ Vernon Trent
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11 years 6 months ago #256197 by Papabear63
Thank you both for your comments. it was my first try at it and i hope to get better at it.
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11 years 6 months ago #256207 by icepics
I'm not sure what you mean by practicing your bokeh... I don't quite get what you were trying to do with that. The color's nice but as Gary said it's not sharp, nothing seems to be in focus.

I imagine it could be from your camera settings and I wonder if the shutter speed was too slow - some of the brighter areas in the background almost seem to have a halo or double image, so maybe the shutter was so slow it 'dragged'.

Maybe you just need to make some adjustments with your camera settings. The composition would be nice as it looks balanced and is a great subject.
Sharon
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11 years 6 months ago - 11 years 6 months ago #256211 by Barry_Johnston
Hi Papabear, Bokeh is not something that you can practice really. Bokeh, or good bokeh, comes from using very wide apertures and improves with higher end lenses. As mentioned above, focus is critical with very shallow depths of field. Using L-series' lenses (Canon) or lenses with f/2.8 or higher. i.e. f/2.0, f/1.8, f/1.4, and f/1.2 will give you the best bokeh.
For example, using an EF85mm f/1.2 @ f/1.2 will give you a 'depth of field' of 8.8mm at 1.0 metre, so as previously mentioned, focus is extremely critical. When focusing on a flower, you need to determine exactly which area of the flower you want to be in focus before shooting, and understanding how depth of field exactly works will be the key for you. Using the same lens above also at f/1.2, but increasing the distance to 5 metres, the depth of field increases to 23.7 mm.

Just one further point, when focusing, either use manual focus, or a single auto-focus point....

Hope this helps... cheers...
Barry Johnston
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11 years 6 months ago #256212 by Papabear63
Barry/Sharon: thank you both for your explanations and clarifications. I guess I had it all wrong for what I thought I was attempting to do.
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11 years 6 months ago #256213 by Barry_Johnston
No problems, as I said, understanding 'Depth of Field' is the key. Use a depth of field calculator and play around with it, you will soon get the picture :) ...pun intended :)
Barry Johnston
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11 years 6 months ago #256215 by Papabear63

Barry_Johnston wrote: No problems, as I said, understanding 'Depth of Field' is the key. Use a depth of field calculator and play around with it, you will soon get the picture :) ...pun intended :)


thanks Barry, i will play around with that and see how it goes. my Canon has a DOF preview button, i guess i will be putting that to use now,lol. again thanks for your help
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11 years 6 months ago #256245 by Henry Peach
You are experimenting with shallow depth of field. Bokeh is the characteristics of how out of focus areas, particularly highlights, render. Experimenting with bokeh would probably require changing lenses, as bokeh differences are mostly a matter of lens design.
mattneedham.zenfolio.com
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11 years 6 months ago #256267 by Justin
This was a good post, I would have called it the same. Now I know :thumbsup:
Very nice to meet you!
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