It's week 46 of my personal photography project and I've not missed a week yet and I'm not going to, so onward to this week's topic, "bokeh". What you say? Here goes...
How to say it: /bōˈkā/ (like bouquet of flowers, however I more often hear it pronounced "bo-keh", which is usually how I say it
The technical definition: "the visual quality of the out-of-focus areas of a photographic image, especially as rendered by a particular lens" (source: Dictionary.com)
The artist's definition: pretty blobs of light in a picture (source: Tracy Allard)
Photo credit: Pixabay
Dreamy Background
I love how the light that is breaking through the trees in the background are rendered as pleasant, little blobs of brightness that help transform this local park setting into something more dreamy and fantasy-like.
Isolate the Subject
The backgrounds for both of these pups were quite busy, but bokeh blurred that and helped isolate the subjects, clearly separating them from the trees and grasses.
What Cars?
See that line of bright white and silver blobs of light in the background? Its a parking lot and those are cars!
Obscure an undesirable background
These two cutie pies were available for adoption from Coppell Animal Services where I volunteer each week helping them with more appealing adoption photos of the animals. I used to have a pretty little niche in which I photographed the dogs, but a recent expansion of the shelter took it away so unfortunately there's no longer a great place to use so we make do with photographing them in the outdoor yard which is concrete and surrounded by a black chain-link fence. Not the most appealing setting, but by photographing at a very low aperture and getting as close as I can to the subject, I'm able to bring out the bokeh in the specs of light peeking through the shrubs which vastly improves the aesthetic of the images. By the way, these pups flew out of the shelter soon after these pictures were posted!
Now onto Pet Love Photography, serving Greater Cincinnati, the San Francisco Bay Area, and destinations nationwide to see what Susannah's done with this week's topic, then continue clicking on the link at the bottom of each post for an around the world tour of pretty blobs of light.
Tracy Allard of Penny Whistle Photography is a Certified Professional Photographer with the organization Professional Photographers of America; a designation held by fewer than 2,500 photographers nationwide and a hallmark of consistency, technical skill, artistry and professionalism. Penny Whistle specializes in both natural light and studio photography providing pet, couple and engagement, family and high school senior portraits as well as corporate headshots and commercial photography in her studio located in old town Carrollton as well as out on location in Coppell and surrounding communities in Dallas – Fort Worth, Texas.
1 Comments
Nov 16, 2018, 5:45:28 AM
Kim Hollis - Genuine LOL! I love the artist's definition. It by far makes the most sense to me!