The Bokeh Effect

I'm always trying to learn new tricks and techniques that I can use with my photography. A few days ago I discovered what's called bokeh. The weird part is that I've been using bokeh for years but had no idea what it was or given it any thought. In case you are like how I was, bokeh is the blurriness in the out-of-focus parts of photos. This may be a little difficult to imagine but I will explain further. Bokeh is particularly important when using a large aperture lens since they typically have a shallow depth of field. When you are taking a photo using bokeh, in the out-of-focus areas, each point of light becomes an image of the aperture (generally a circle). This weekend, inspired by an article recommended by a fellow photographer, I decided to experiment with bokeh. Using the logic described above, one can easily change that circular aperture shape by attaching a piece of paper with a cut-out of the center to the front of the lens (see the picture below). If you decide to give this a try, be sure to let in enough light when you are cutting your shape for practicality. Also note that your photos may have a hazier look if there is not enough cut out but this is not always a bad thing. My best suggestion is to just try it out and experiment!

The following are a few examples of manipulation of bokeh...

Now, get out there and try it yourself! 

-Yin