New guy here - Bokeh?

[Chairman7w]

Hi guys, brand new noob here, take it easy on me!

Question: What's the deal with bokeh? I have perused some galleries and seen comments like, "Wow - beautiful bokeh!"

As I understand it, isn't that just the out-of-focus stuff in the background? What would make any bokeh any better than any other bokeh?

Thanks in advance, looking forward to learning a lot on this forum.

 

[ANDS!]

Bokeh is how the lens renders light in the out of focus areas of your picture. Theres all kinds of mathmemtical ways of describing hard to soft bokeh, and some folks even have clever ways of rendering light points in different shapes, but essentially it is just out of focus light in your photo. What determines "good" and "bad" bokeh is about as subjective as what determines a good or bad photograph.

 

[Big Mike]

Welcome to the forum.

Better looking bokeh is often described as smooth or even creamy. Bad looking bokeh might have artificial shapes in it. For example, a cheap lens might have fewer aperture blades, which means that aperture isn't very round. The bokeh will tend to take on those shapes and it can look unnatural. A better quality lens may have more blades and/or a more round aperture, thus giving a more natural looking bokeh.

I was looking for some examples and found this...

When a lens has bad bokeh, these points are darker in the middle and lighter around the edges making them mor noticable in a photo's background.
With good bokeh, the middle is lighter with the edges fading to a darker shade which makes them less noticable

From HERE

 

[Chairman7w]

Thank you guys!

 

[CAG76]

I have a very silly question but Im going to ask it anyway. How is it pronounced? It is pronounced like Boke, or like Bokay? Perhaps something different?

 

[linpelk]

I'm glad you asked...I'd like to know too!

 

[sabbath999]

bo-ka