My hand at the "holiday bokeh" for C&C

[Snakeguy101]

I got this shot for a friend who is using it for a xmas card. It is my first attempt at using that real strong bokeh. Let me know what you think! Thanks.


DSC_3053 by Snakeguy101, on Flickr


DSC_3048 by Snakeguy101, on Flickr


DSC_3049 by Snakeguy101, on Flickr

 

[Trever1t]

It's very pronounced but the bokeh itself isn't appealing quality due to the lens's quality, nothing you can do about that. The last shot could use a little light camera right. Cool shots.

 

[ph0enix]

I like them but they're too cold for me. Christmas time is all about warm and fuzzy and these are anything but warm. All the white and blue lights say Hanukkah much more than Christmas. Did you aim for hexagonal bokeh? If you wanted circles, you should have shot wide open. Just my humble opinion.

 

[j-digg]

Prolly just comes from a cheaper lens - more than likely a 50 1.8?

 

[2WheelPhoto]

why isn't the bokeh more round, what lens you using?

 

[mwcfarms]

I think you could brighten them both and as mentioned warm them up just a tad.

 

[KmH]

. It is my first attempt at using that real strong bokeh.

Circle of Confusion (CoC, or bokeh) isn't adjustable, but depth-of-field is.

The lens used was Nikon's AF 50 mm f/1.8D, set to f/2.8, which has 7 aperture blades which is why the CoC (bokeh) the shallow DoF reveals is 7 sided.

 

[Snakeguy101]

Okay, thanks for the feed back guys. So brighten it up and warm them slightly. I can probably fix that in Aperture or PS- I shot this RAW so I don't think it will be too destructive... KmH got all the EXIF data spot on and I did know about the number of aperture blades being a problem but my budget is very limited right now. Does the f/1.4 lens have 9 blades? That would be enough for essentially round CoC right? I might ask for that for christmas or something.

 

[RichardsTPF]

The lens used was Nikon's AF 50 mm f/1.8D, set to f/2.8, which has 7 aperture blades which is why the CoC (bokeh) the shallow DoF reveals is 7 sided.

Thanks for the answer. I was about to question. Can this 7-blades len give round bokeh?

I like the 2nd most.

 

[Natalie]

I quite like these shots, though as mentioned they don't really have a "holiday"-type feel to them because of the cool colors. If that's what you're trying to do, I would suggest using warmer Christmas lights (I can tell the ones you used are those newfangled LED ones, look for the warmer incandescent ones), and maybe letting in a little more ambient light. Though to do that might require a slower shutter speed, and I don't know how slow you'd be able to manage with cockatiels. The seven-sided shape of the lights doesn't bother me. Cool shots!

 

[enzodm]

Shoot wide open for round "bokeh".

 

[jake337]

The lens used was Nikon's AF 50 mm f/1.8D, set to f/2.8, which has 7 aperture blades which is why the CoC (bokeh) the shallow DoF reveals is 7 sided.

Thanks for the answer. I was about to question. Can this 7-blades len give round bokeh?

Yes, shot wide open. You will start to notice it become more like the OP post as you stop down.

Not the best example but t here a few OOF highlights in the back. Nikkor 50mm f1.8 af-d, shot at f2.

 

[RichardsTPF]

So f2.8 is not wide enough to get round bokeh?

 

[jake337]

So f2.8 is not wide enough to get round bokeh?

Not sure if the round OOF highlights are from the shape of the water droplets or if this lens keeps OOF highlights round at nearly every aperture. Shot at F22. 9 tokina 100mm f2.8 macro with 9 rounded blades.

Depends on the lens construction. Here is one at F4.5 with my tokina 100mm f2.8 macro. It has 9 rounded blades.

 

[enzodm]

So f2.8 is not wide enough to get round bokeh?

It is not matter of wide or not. When is fully open, no matter how wide is, blades are open, so they not appear into the lens hole (to be clear). When you start to close, they... close the hole with their shape. If blades are rounded, or many, then you still will see round bokeh.