Bokeh is the blurry part of an image. It is one of the best effects in photography and is often used but still, not as much as it should. Since your bokeh is the blurry part of an image, it keeps the clear part of the photo in good focus and makes it more noticeable. In fact, bokeh makes the most outstanding effect in photography. However, to achieve that, you have to know how to make one perfectly.
Here are four things you can do to improve your bokeh:
Create your own custom bokeh
This is the first thing to try – creating your own bokeh. In any case, photographers have been doing this for ages.
The main way to do this is to make a cutout in any shape that you fancy. You will then place this cutout on your camera lens such that when you take the photo, the opaque parts of the cutout block the light in the right places.
Preferably, use a black paper to make the cutout. You can always start with the simplest bokeh. Just cut a hole the size of a coin on the paper. Stick the paper in front of the lens and when you take your shot, the part blocking the light will be your bokeh. It will be just perfect.
After you have had some practice with simple circles, rectangles and so on, go for shapes that are more complex.
Use the right lens
This is about the choice of the aperture. They come in two types mostly. Cheaper cameras come with octagonal apertures, which produce bokehs in the same shape. Costlier cameras have more blades or curved blade apertures and they give circular bokehs. If you have good budget to buy quality bokeh lens to add to your camera, you can expect to have the best possible bokeh for your photos.
Create a relationship between focus image and the bokeh
This requires you to be a bit creative, but the effect will be worth all the effort. The best bokeh is when the blurred image is related to the image in focus. For example, a goalkeeper standing with the ball with the net in the blurred background makes a striking effect.
A car in sharp focus looks much better with a big truck in the blurred part of the photo. The reason for this is that there is an interaction, especially when you take the photo of the car on the road. The bokeh effect will be much better if the focus and the blurred images are related.
Depth of field adjustment
Even if the background is out of focus, you still want to be able to tell what is in the blurred part of the picture. It is best to aim for a great field of depth. It is all about just how much of the photo is out of focus. Do not make the mistake of using a low value aperture.
Such has the effect of blurring a large part of the image. Since you just want to keep a small part of the photo blurred, you should use a high aperture value. Likewise, do not go for the blurriest background that you can make. The best bokeh is achieved when you can tell what the blurry objects in your photo are.
