Bokeh, what is it?

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I can't find it as a word, nor can I find it as a category in the indexes of the photo books I have. I can guess from the categories and photos associated with it what in this forum what it MIGHT be, and am also assuming it is a "sigle", a word that is the sum of its parts. So... can someone or several someones, please spell it out? What is bokeh, what does it mean, and can it be cured? ;-)

-- Margaret (fitz@neptune.fr), November 30, 2001

Answers

search google...

http://www.google.com/search?q=Bokeh

michael

-- michael thomas turner (pugachev@light-heavy.com), November 30, 2001.


These should explain what "bokeh" is:

http://www.kenrockwell.com /bokeh.htm

http://www.minox.org/bokeh.html

http://www.pathcom.co m/~vhchan/bokeh.html

-- Hoyin Lee (leehoyin@hutchcity.com), November 30, 2001.

i think it is japanese and means out of focus. you can get it if you buy german lenses (german names will do it too) with loads of aperture blades, they must be highly expensive and no other brand will do it. very japanese obsession, unfortunately taken over by some westerners.

-- stefan randlkofer (geesbert@yahoo.com), November 30, 2001.

The links provided by Hoyin Lee provide reasonable explanations of Bokeh.

While I have no real knowledge of how word was derived, other than its apparent Japanese origin, I like to think of it in terms of being the zen of sniffing the "bouquet" of fine wines - the more wine you've had, the more mellow the bokeh.

Considering the Japanese penchant for adopting foreign words (spelled unusually), there may be some validity to the wine analogy.

-- Ralph Barker (rbarker@pacbell.net), November 30, 2001.


The short and simple answer:

Bokeh is the transliteration of a Japanese word for "blur." It refers to the character of the out-of-focus areas of a photograph. It can be cured by shooting short focal lengths at small apertures. : )

Example from a 135 Elmarit (everything but the girl would fall into bokeh territory):



-- Mike Dixon (mike@mikedixonphotography.com), November 30, 2001.



Margaret: There are lots of sites with references to Bokeh, which I'm sure will get listed here soon. If not, I'll come back with some links.

In the meantime, a thumbnail. The word is Japanese and means (more or less) 'fuzzy'. In Japan it is used to describe people (e.g. someone who is vague and/or not all 'there') as well as pictures. The photographic concept comes from Japanese camera magazines, which now regularly review the 'bokeh' of a lens as well as its resolution/contrast, etc. In the West it is a relatively new idea dating more or less from the mid-90's - although obviously lenses have HAD good or bad bokeh going all the way back to Galileo, we just weren't paying that much attention. It wouldn't surprise me to find out that the c. 1900 Pictorialists (and other photographers) have always been aware of bokeh effects, but just didn't use that term.

Bokeh refers to how a lens treats the out-of-focus (OOF) parts of a picture. It mostly applies to fast or long lenses - wideangles at small apertures USUALLY don't throw the background/foreground enough out of focus to see much 'bokeh' of any kind. Discussions here usually start with the 35 f/2 and work up to longer lenses from there.

Generally speaking, there is 'good' and 'bad' bokeh. Bad bokeh refers to OOF areas that are busy and/or distracting, with hard-edged bright circles and occasionally overlapping double images. Good bokeh refers to OOF areas that are very blended and smooth and don't draw attention from the sharp area.

The bokeh of a given lens depends on a lot of factors - which aberrations the lens designer chooses to correct for, the overall contrast, and probably some other things that most of us can see but don't understand optically. I could get into theories about over- and under-corrected 'spherical aberration', but......you get the idea.

Important safety tips:

1) Bokeh is very subjective, like wine-tasting. You'll get differing opinions from others as to which lens has which kind of bokeh. You'll have to study some pictures ans determine what looks good to you.

2) the bokeh of any given lens varies depending on subject distance and OOF foreground/background distance (and also the aperture being used) - it may be great focused at 3 feet with a background at 6 feet, and not so hot with a subject at 5 feet and the background at infinity. It all depends on how the light rays criss-cross going through the glass and onto the film. This variation may explain tip 1.

-- Andy Piper (apidens@denver.infi.net), November 30, 2001.


Margaret,

Information in current lens books identify the original word(s) as bo-ke, a somewhat derogatory Japanese term applied to older people with less than perfect memory recall capabilities. Somehow the term has transliterated into "bokeh" and refers to out of focus areas in photographs. It has further been described as either "good" or "bad" bokeh depending on the viewer's taste. Prevailing opinion is that Leica lenses generally display good bokeh while some other manufacturer's lenses may display lesser quality. Good bokeh is difficult to define precisely but many photographers say they recognize it when they see it. A good example of "bad" bokeh are the donut shaped highlights in out-of-focus areas of images taken with mirror lenses. These donut shapes are caused by the hole in the back mirror thru which the image is reflected onto the film. The whole subject is very subjective and opinions range all over the place. Some call it "bokeh" and some call it "hokey". :-) LB

-- Luther Berry (lberrytx@aol.com), November 30, 2001.


See Andy's answer above for better description. We apparently were typing at the same time and he finished first. :-) LB

-- Luther Berry (lberrytx@aol.com), November 30, 2001.

If you haven't already checked these out, see e.g. the 30 or so sites in my note to Philip in his posting "Bokeh - it's origins?"
(http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=0076 CB).

-- Michael Kastner (kastner@zedat.fu-berlin.de), November 30, 2001.

Margaret: I should add that many folks consider those of us who pay attention to "bo-ke" (first Japanese meaning) are "bo-ke" (second Japanese meaning). 8^)

Some more links: Bokeh

More Bokeh

Nemeth's Bokeh

-- Andy Piper (apidens@denver.infi.net), November 30, 2001.



Luther: When I started my post there was ONE (1) answer. Five people jumped in while I was typing - we go for bokeh questions like sharks for chum!

-- Andy Piper (apidens@denver.infi.net), November 30, 2001.

Andy,

Did you get your references backwards? Should your statement be that "some of us who pay attention to bo-ke (2nd, new definition) are considered bo-ke (1st, original definition)"???? :-)) LB

-- Luther Berry (lberrytx@aol.com), November 30, 2001.


Margaret-

I don't believe there is a cure. Subjectivity is a virulent disease.

Jeff

-- jeff voorhees (debontekou@yahoo.com), November 30, 2001.


A beautiful bouquet of Hasselblad optics.

Peter Hughes Photography

-- Peter Hughes (ravenart@pacbell.net), November 30, 2001.


Might this be good bokeh? soilsouth@home.com), December 01, 2001.


Thanks a lot Margaret,

With your best English than mine you asked a question I didn't understand. Thank you also for the clear answers, principally when they take example of wines "bouquet": here, in Burgondy, we are more able to understand it ! ;-) I suppose we can/must accept a great part of subjectivity in this concept? what I don't dislike: with some pictures, excuse me, I don't understand, with other ones, I agree, I love. thanks and regards Alain

-- alain.besancon (alain.besancon@chu-dijon.fr), December 01, 2001.


Thank you to all who have answered here, and explained what bokeh means. It seems to be a trendy concept at the moment, there in the non-French speaking world. Here in the photo magazines, what is criticised is appropriate and inappropriate use of the depth of field. Aiming to have the bokeh as a dominant characteristic of the photo makes IT the subject. Maybe it hasn't caught on here because this is, after all, the country that gave the art world expressionist and pointillist painting.

Thank you again. I will now retreat to the safety of the circle of confusion.

-- Margaret (fitz@neptune.fr), December 02, 2001.


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