

The shape of the aperture is a perfect circle when it is wide open, so the shape of the bokeh effect will be circular, too. Similarly, the more you open the lens aperture, the stronger the background blur becomes and therefore the bokeh. So, you will get noticeably more background blur from an 85mm lens than from a 50mm lens. This is because perspective compression forces the blur to spread out more.

The longer your focal length is, the more pronounced the bokeh effect. However, if your subject is too close to the background, it will be difficult to achieve the bokeh effect as there will not be enough separation to let large bokeh balls form. The closer your subject is to the camera, the shallower the depth of field and the greater the bokeh effect. Subject DistanceĪ crucial factor is the distance between the subject and the camera, as well as the distance between the subject and the background. The quantity and quality of the bokeh effect depend on many things – from the lens design to your own creative vision. Not every camera/lens combination behaves the same when out of focus. On location, Alyssa’s go-to lens is the fast aperture AF 85mm F1.4 FE paired with a Sony A7 III which helps control depth of field by creating a dream-like blur within her images.Īlyssa says, The reason why I love to shoot portraits is I love to look at people’s faces and the stories they tell, and I especially enjoy the connection I have with my subject and hoping the viewers see this through my photographs. Specialising in new-borns, children, and families, over the last 4 years she has developed her own techniques to create unique stories through all aspects of her portrait photography.
BOKEH EFFECT MEANING PROFESSIONAL
While a lot of portraiture tends to use a shallow depth of field to isolate the subject in the frame, achieving bokeh in the background tends to be a by-product rather than intentional – by emphasising the effect of bokeh and thinking more about the creative effects that are achievable, it's possible to make your portraits really pop!Īlyssa Zalabai is a professional portrait photographer based in Liverpool.

This is quite a common practice in portraiture. Using an extremely shallow depth of field, photographers can place focus on just the eyes (or even on one eye) while the other facial features, the hair, and anything else in the foreground or background will be progressively out of focus.
BOKEH EFFECT MEANING FULL
In portraits, a backdrop full of smooth bokeh helps the subject stand out. However, bokeh can complement your subject and make it feel like they are being brought out of the photo. Your main priority is to capture your chosen subject as well as you can. In photography, achieving great bokeh should not be your primary goal. The effect of bokeh in photography is also created when the light sources are situated behind your background and filtering through small gaps, such as through spaces between a tree’s leaves as the sun sets behind it. Sometimes artificial light sources can create a pleasing and effective bokeh too – an example can be fairy lights blurred in the background or the lights of a city skyline.Īs points of light reflect differently off flat surfaces, your background will need to have a little texture to it for example light reflecting off the foliage in a garden. The bokeh effect is created when natural light reflects off, or through a textured surface.
