Warm Nights and Fairy Lights

One of the great things about warmer nights is getting to spend some time outdoors listening to the creepy crawlies under some subdued moonlight or fairy lights. I had the pleasure of enjoying watermelon at a friends place with gorgeous miniature lanterns that were a gift from Thailand.

(Image shot with Canon 50mm prime lens – Aperture: f/1.8, Exposure: 1/320 seconds, ISO: 200)

(Image shot with Canon 50mm prime lens – Aperture: f/1.8, Exposure: 1/400 seconds, ISO: 800)

(Image shot with Canon 50mm prime lens – Aperture: f/1.8, Exposure: 1/400 seconds, ISO: 800)

(Image shot with Canon 50mm prime lens – Aperture: f/1.8, Exposure: 1/320 seconds, ISO: 800)
Indoors or outdoors, hang up some fairy lights for a more creative and ambient light source.

Happy Snapping!

P

Filed under: Night Bokeh, Personal, 2010, bokeh, bokehlicious, fairy lights, photography, spring

What the Nikon D7000 will bring for Bokeh-graphers

In the past few weeks, there has been a lot of buzz surrounding the launch of Nikon’s soon to be released D7000 digital SLR camera. One of the exciting new features of this make for bokeh-graphers is its 39 AF (Auto-Focus) points. For those unfamiliar with the term, it means that when looking down the viewfinder of the D7000, the user will see 39 reference spots- usually in some sort of cross/rhombus formation, which can be individually selected or all combined to anchor a point within the image for the camera to focus automatically on. While this isn’t as superb as some of Nikon’s other models (the D300s boasts a whopping 51 focus points), it will be combined with a 2016-RGB pixel metering sensor allowing more colours in the RGB scale to be differentiated from the next pixel, equalling more focus and sharper images for users.

Why is this good news for bokeh?

The AF metering points are important to selectively focus on any subject, no matter the size. The more AF metering points available, the easier it is to focus without having to shift your camera away from the scene or when you are shooting a subject that you don’t want to disturb. Here are some bokeh examples where AF metering modes matter.

Shooting bugs:

Hey by @lbyper using a by-nc-sa license

Shooting fine features:

Sometimes I wish the days are longer.. by CW Ye using a by-nc-nd license

Shooting small moving subjects:

Bee Speed!!! by Danny Perez Photography using a by-nc-nd license

Shooting subjects quickly that are off-centre:

Aircraft in Hanger by mtsofan using a by-nc-sa license

Happy snapping!

P

Filed under: Equipment, Uncategorized, AF, AF Metering Points, auto focus, bokeh, bokehlicious, Camera settings, D7000, Nikon, Nikon D7000, photography

A Visual Guide to Bokeh

My 2009 Canon photo 5 package

Every year I participate in the Canon EOS Photo 5 Competition in Australia. It’s basically a competition where you sign up, register for a ‘photo5’ box and wait for your mail for 5 creative briefs. Last year, one of the 5 briefs (hence the name, photo 5!) provided 3 bokeh ‘hoods’ to inspire competitors to create experimental depth of field photos. Canon uploaded a video to YouTube with some awesome tips on how to use the bokeh hoods, tips on which lenses to use, things NOT to do and some technical aspects of bokeh. Check it out:

If you’d like to recreate these experimental images, you can create your own bokeh hood with a few basic materials.

More on the Canon Photo5 Competition

While registration for the 2010 photo5 has closed, the competition has one brief that is open to all in the public. This year, the open brief is titled, “Inspired by Sound“, and asks for entrants to listen to a sound clip, and creatively translate that into an image. [NB: Open only to Australian and New Zealand photographers].

Happy snapping!

P

Filed under: DIY, Night Bokeh, Tips, Video Tutorials, Australia, bokeh, bokehlicious, Canon, competition, photo5, photography, tips, video tutorial

Using Bokeh to Get Lost in the Crowd

I wrote an earlier post for food bloggers about the use of bokeh to polish up their images. But Bokeh is something anyone can apply to, no matter what their hobby, be it food, cars or playing pool.

I was taking shots recently for a birthday party in a crowded city bar and saw some amazing lanterns in the background of the bar behind the pool tables.

Dangling bar lights

Perfect for Bokeh photography! Dispersed circular lights out of the depth of field would make a nice accompaniment to balls. The shallow depth of field also changed the scenery of the crowded bar to the surface of the pool table and allowed the image to focus on nothing but the game.

(Image shot with Canon 50mm prime lens – Aperture: f/1.8, Exposure: 1/10 seconds)

(Image shot with Canon 50mm prime lens – Aperture: f/1.8, Exposure: 1/10 seconds)

(Image shot with Canon 50mm prime lens – Aperture: f/1.8, Exposure: 1/160 seconds)

Great Examples of Pool Playing Bokeh

Untitled by Joseph Robertson using a BY-NC-SA 2.0 licence

Your last $50 is riding on this by Mick 0 using a BY-NC 2.0 licence

not ready for the big leagues yet (25/365) by swimparalell using a BY-SA 2.0 licence

6 by Slightlynorth using a BY-NC-SA 2.0 licence

Billiard Bokeh by adwriter using a BY-NC 2.0 licence

They key to these images is having your subject in focus at a shallow depth of field, and placing either lights or other objects in a distance far enough to be outside the lenses depth of field, as shown in the images above.

Happy Snapping!

P

Filed under: Night Bokeh, Tips, bokeh, bokehlicious, night, photography, pool

To bokeh, or not to bokeh.

Ah, bokeh photography. Who on earth would blog solely about blurry images? Half the time, you can’t even see anything!

Step in me, another online amateur photographer and blogger, and voila, here is Bokehlicious. Confusing to some, but loved by many, Bokeh is a creative field of photography that I have loved from the start (without knowing that the Japanese had given it a term!).

To understand this, let’s go back in time to when I was 9. Being the runt of the litter, I’d usually be given the odd jobs by any adults within an arms reach. Paula, fetch me another glass, Paula, film this. Paula, take a photo of that. And being only 3 foot tall at that time (estimate), there’s only so much you can do from an average persons knee height (exaggeration). I self-taught myself composition and how to frame the world visually from a hobbits point of view. My grandfather passed away and his Pentax Asahi found its way to its new owner and my interest in photography was planted.

Pushing the boundaries, or purposely not acknowledging them, has been my approach to photography, much like anything else. There has got to be more than just point and shoot. It’s far too easy and uninspiring for someone who’s been told all their life that they have an eye for something. I’ve got two – one for seeing the world and one for seeing the world in its frame. What bokeh brings to this simple equation is a whole new other way of seeing. I enjoy the light and colour that it can capture, the way it can edit the way we look at people, objects and everything surrounding us. Manipulating the scenery of our day to day lives makes the world just a little bit more fascinating. Bokeh shows, that not everything is what it seems.

P

Filed under: Personal, bokeh, bokehlicious, photography, web206