Please Explain Bokeh... ugh!

[AprilEye]

I know it is achieved with a narrow depth of field... but I have been trying to achieve it like some example pictures and just cant figure it out! I am just a little frustrated and some of the tutorials on the web are not really helping. (((sigh)))

 

[Light Artisan]

Bokeh simply means blur. Some lenses have better (smoother) 'bokeh' than others, the quality of such blur is a personal preference, I prefer mine creamy smooth.

Do you have samples of photos you've attempted?

 

[LightSpeed]

Do a post search on Member : Blake oney. Look for his Bokeh post for a more clear understanding.

 

[AprilEye]

here is an example. I made the background blurrier during the post process. Sorry, its the only example I have in a pinch. its the cross hanging from my rear view mirror and I took the shot at a stop light.

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/photography-beginners-forum-photo-gallery/225402-bokeh.html

 

[shaunly]

85/1.2, that should solve your problem.

 

[Village Idiot]

aperture and focal length create a shallow DOF. The widest aperture of your two lenses is f/3.5; that's not a very wide aperture and won't create an extremely shallow DOF.

 

[lildlege1]

This post was helpful for me. Great question and helpful answers. Thanks

 

[Big Mike]

As V.I. mentioned, the biggest obstacle is that your lenses are limited. They only have a maximum aperture of F3.5 to F5.6, which isn't considered very large. And as we know, it's a large aperture that helps you create the shallow DOF that you are after.

Bokeh junkies usually prefer to shoot with prime (non-zoom) lenses because those are the lenses that can have larger max apertures. Three examples from Canon; 50mm F1.8, 50mm F1.4, 50mm F1.2.

Also, the size of the film/sensor will make a difference. Like most digital SLR cameras, your T2i has an 'APS-C' sized sensor. It's much better than what is in a point & shoot camera, but it's still smaller than a 'full frame' sensor like what you will find in the 5D.
So when you see photos on the internet, you may be looking at photos taken with larger apertures and larger sensors...which is one reason you are having trouble replicating them with your gear.

And of course, the distance to the subject and the distance from the subject to the background will also have an effect on DOF.

 

[KmH]

Many new to photography use the term bokeh incorrectly.

They use the word bokeh when they are really asking about, or discussing depth-of-field (DOF).

Depth-of-field is quantitative and is affected by:

• image sensor size
• lens focal length
• subject to image sensor distance
• subject to background distance
• lens aperture

There are DOF calculators online. You can plug in values for the different variable listed above, and the DOF calculator will describe the resulting DOF: Online Depth of Field Calculator

Bokeh is qualitative and mainly a function of the number and shape of the blades that are the lens aperture. More blades, rounded blade edges, and blades shaped to make an aperture opening as close to round as possible, usually produces the softest bokeh.

There are 2 main types of bokeh:

1. Cream cheese (very smooth)
2. Hollywood (nice round blotches of light)

A good example of a lens that can produce very high quality bokeh, is Nikon's AF 85 mm f/1.4D lens. It has been nicknamed the 'Cream Machine'.

The Cream Machine has 9, rounded edged, and carefully shaped lens aperture blades.

An example of a lens that produces poor quality bokeh is Canon's inexpensive EF 50 mm f/1.8. Canon's 'nifty-fifty' has only 5, sharp edged lens aperture blades.