Bokeh no. 1: the definition
The term “bokeh” (pronounced /bɒkɛ) comes from the Japanese word boke (暈け or ボケ), which means “blur” or “haze”, or boke-aji (ボケ味), the “blur quality”.
In photography, bokeh is the blur, or the aesthetic quality of the blur, in out-of-focus areas of an image, or “the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light.”
A larger slice of time
A photograph is usually a very small slice of time. A modern day camera can take slices out of time which last about 4000th of a second. The average photograph is taken with an exposure (because that’s how these slices of time are defined in the world of photography) of about 125th of a second. Of course, one can extend the exposure time to a 30th of a second or a 10th or perhaps one whole second, depending on the amount of light which is available. The less light there is, the longer the exposure time needs to be in order to get a proper photograph.
There are some interesting side effects to this and it is quite often interesting to consider using longer exposure times, not so much because of the low level of light, but because of the side effects it brings (which suddenly means that low levels of light are a necessity). The Light Moves series are an example of wanting these nice side-effects and therefore having to use long exposure times.
Another example is using long exposures in combination with flowing water. Of course, one has to stand ankle deep in a stream of freezing cold water, in the dark, getting bitten to death by a rich assortment of mosquitos and other nocturnal insects…but I think the result is worth it
The dark forrest
Lensbaby
It may sound like a made-up word, but it’s a real thing. It looks a bit like a round and small accordion, but instead of sound, it produces pictures (when mounted on a camera of course).
Here’s a small picture of the lens in its’ simplest form:
cute…isn’t it?
Focussing is done by pressing down the lens. The focal plane can be shifted by pressing one side of the lens a little bit more than the other (while maintaining focus…which is, as I found out, the hard part). Changing the aperture is done by removing the aperture ring and replacing it with a different version (the lens comes with about four seperate rings varying from f/2.8 to f/8).
Unlike its’ hughly expensive tilt&shift cousins, the lens is very cheap. Also, because of the kind of random results you get, it is great fun to use.
Of course one might get random results from a professional lens by dropping it on the kitchen floor from a considerable height, but this is usually considered less fun.
Sometimes you have to keep things simple.
(so is dropping an expensive lens to the kitchen floor, but I’m not here to argue).
Here are some of my babysteps.