What is Bokeh Photography?

Well if you are a beginner in photography, everyone will tell you to focus on the subject, which focus mode to be used, how to compose a subject, what will be the lights on the subject, how much exposure should be there on the subject, etcetera etcetera. But what about the background?

As you will start researching background composition in photography, that is when you will get to know about the ” Bokeh effect “ which some people also call it  ” Boca effect “.

1. Which one is correct, Boca or Bokeh?

Now let’s clear out this doubt in the very beginning. The correct word for this effect is ” Bokeh ” pronounced as” Bow-Kei ” while the word ” Boca “means ” Mouth “in Spanish. There are other different meanings of the word Boca but none of them are related to photography. So if you were wondering what is Boca in photography? then here is your answer. Boca, the term used in photography is nothing but a bokeh effect.

2. What is the Bokeh effect?

The bokeh effect is an art of making the background “out-of-focus” or “burry” by using a camera lens such that it separates the subject from the background by introducing a shallow depth of field in the image.

In Leman’s language, the Bokeh effect is simply another term for background blur. Specifically, a background with small fuzzy spots of light and other out-of-focus objects.

Do You know: 
The word Bokeh is actually, Japenese term for the word “Blurr”.

3. How to achieve bokeh in an image?

In order to achieve perfect Bokeh, you need to master the concept of depth of field and how to achieve Shallow depth of field in your image.

Vaguely speaking, Shallow depth of field is basically a closeup of the subject in focus. You make your camera to focus on a small area, while the background becomes out of focus and the small lights in the background take the shape of a soft blob (small spots), hence giving you a nice Bokeh effect.

Now let us get a detailed understanding of Shallow depth of field.

3.1 What does Shallow depth of field mean?

Before knowing what is a shallow depth of field, let us first find out what depth of field (DOF) means.

Depth of field (DOF) represents the sharpness of an object that is under focus by the camera. 

A shallow depth of field is achieved when there is a smaller range of focus or the focus distance(distance between the object in focus and the camera) is less.

Smaller the focal distance, shallower the Depth of Field.

3.2 How to achieve Shallow depth of field?

There are 3 main factors that are needed to be kept in mind while creating a shallow depth of field in your photo. These factors are the aperture, the distance between the subject and the camera, and the focal length of the camera. 

 

Let us understand these terms and know, how can we achieve shallow depth of field by using these factors

Aperture :

Aperture defines the amount of light that is exposed to the camera sensors for image construction in your camera. We control this activity by increasing or decreasing the aperture value.

In order to attain a shallow depth of field, the aperture value must be large. That means camera sensors must be exposed to more light.

Larger aperture value = Shallow depth of field

Distance between subject and camera :

Your subject must be closer to the camera in order to attain the shallow depth of field. You can attain this by using zoom lenses for digital camera or in case of the mobile camera, by clicking the picture in portrait mode and moving closer to the object in focus.

Less distance between subject and camera = Shallow depth of field

Focal Length:

Focal Length is the capability of a lens to zoom into the object and bring it closer. As we know now, less distance between the camera and the subject will result in a shallow depth of field. Thus longer the focal length, closer the subject and hence shallower the depth of field. 

 

Long focal length = Shallow depth of field

Example of Bokeh effect

Example of Background blur

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