Bokeh Lights Photography

Bokeh Lights Photography

Bokeh Lights Photography – Bokeh, also known as “Boke” is one of the most popular subjects in photography. The reason why it is so popular, is because Bokeh makes photographs visually appealing, forcing us to focus our attention on a particular area of the image. 

Bokeh Lights Photography

Basically, bokeh is the quality of out-of-focus or “blurry” parts of the image rendered by a camera lens – it is NOT the blur itself or the amount of blur in the foreground or the background of a subject. The blur that you are so used to seeing in photography that separates a subject from the background is the result of shallow “depth of field” and is generally simply called “background blur”. The quality and feel of the background/foreground blur and reflected points of light, however, is what photographers call Bokeh. Confused yet? Take a look at the following image:

This flower stem covered with dew is in focus, (which means that it is inside the depth of field), while the background is out of focus (which means that the background is outside the depth of field). The small or “shallow” depth of field is the result of standing relatively close to the subject, while using a large aperture.

What is Aperture?

Aperture can be defined as the opening in a lens through which light passes to enter the camera. It is an easy concept to understand if you just think about how your eyes work. As you move between bright and dark environments, the iris in your eyes either expands or shrinks, controlling the size of your pupil.

In photography, the “pupil” of your lens is called aperture. You can shrink or enlarge the size of the aperture to allow more or less light to reach your camera sensor. The image below shows an aperture in a lens:

Just remember to put your subject between you and the light source and shoot away to get bright bokeh lights in the background.

Bokeh Lights Photography

Sandra J’s Into the Light Adventures

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

By Sandra J

11 Replies to “Bokeh Lights Photography”

  1. Thank you Sandra. Great information. I see spiritual applications. Such as, the greater the spiritual Light released through the aperture, the more the focus will be on the main subject in the foreground, which will always be the Lord Jesus. With very little or no spiritual Light one will only see, or focus in on, the background and miss the Lord in the foreground. The Lord often spoke of spiritual eyes—“eyes that see”—“he who has eyes to see”—and with which one can see spiritual things or see in the spirit. It sounds as if the aperture is one’s heart. If one opens it to receive greater Light one will have greater spiritual sight. If one closes his or her heart aperture or keeps it closed then one will only see in the natural, and the spiritual world will remain invisible and essentially appear as non-existent. Your extensive knowledge of photography may prove this to a deeper level than I can see and reveal more.

    1. Yes, you said it perfectly. He teaches us throughout every aspect of our lives. Amazing what He will reveal to us that way. I so appreciate your comment here and the comparison to His word. Thank you very much RJ. Have a wonderful day.

  2. Thank you for the tips – we can only aspire to one day be as good of a photographer as you Sandra. I do like the bokeh effect here – it makes the bird really stand out.

      1. You’re welcome Sandra. I have lots to learn and often my good shots are lucky shots … now if those birds and critters didn’t move it’d be a lot easier. 🙂

    1. Yes, aperture is a confusing thing for new people, but there are so many fun ways to use all the cameras settings to get different results. Makes photography even more fun. 🙂 .

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