"Bokeh"-Amature Bling?

[Sonnar Brian]

Thankyou, Gregory.

Another Focus test; an uncoated Zeiss Sonnar 5cm F1.5 converted to Leica Mount. Lens was bought from an RFF member, modified, and is now half way across the world with another RFF member. So I need to test the focus, but would rather look at tree branches and tall grass than brick walls!

 

[Sonnar Brian]

Thankyou. That means a lot to me.

 

[jsrockit]

It's also a lot nicer than the typical version... good job. Perhaps I should have said mediorce bopttle and branches? 🙂

This is my most-viewed photo on Flickr, marked as a favorite more than any other.

Canon 50/0.95 wide-open, on the Canon 7. It's a test shot, got the lens from Ebay and tried it out on my Canon body. The focus was spot-on. And flare, well that is the Sun in the right-hand corner. Most of my tree-branch shots are focus tests. But I like pretty colors and swirly lights.

 

[patrickhh]

I'm a total bokeh perv. I just can't help it. 😱
BTW. @Gregory. I love your Noctilux cat shot. 😀

 

[Gradskater]

wow, I took a VERY similar picture to yours, Brian. This was with a jupiter 8, wide open. I have gotten this look from the Russian lens, but I also have gotten very smooth bokeh as well, all depending on the light and structure of the background. I posted this in the 'ultimate bokeh' thread as well.

 

[ulrikft]

I like my boke

 

[ReneSpudvilas]

I think if a lot of people are very interested in bokeh-heavy photos, bokeh characteristics, bokeh-friendly lenses...etc.. it means that a lot of people think it is a very pleasing thing! That can surely not be a bad thing. As a photographer, I want people to find my photos pleasing/engaging, and if that means a blurred background, so be it.

I am also a big fan of fisheye lenses....a lot of people half-dismiss them as novelty/gimmicks too, but I grew up in the 80s/90s, and was very heavily influenced by skateboarding/hip hop and other fisheye cultures! I guess that means I just cannot help loving fisheye lenses.... I do not think that will ever change.
I do not see them as novelties, I just see them as essential tools.

Blasting out backgrounds with my first 1.4/50 lens was such a joy, something that made me really find photography fun..... maybe it was a novelty back then, but it is something that has always fascinated me since. I am not sure that will ever change either!

 

[NickTrop]

To categorized "bokeh" or use of selective focus and disparage its use by photographers as "amateur bling" is patently absurd, ridiculous, and an observations devoid of any merit whatsoever. You're entitled to your opinion, however, even if it's dumb. - and don't take offense, as someone who has made his share of dumb statements. We all do.

 

[Gumby]

Please do not include me in "we" when you write "we all do". I don't think I have ever written anything that 'patently absurd, ridiculous, and an observations devoid of any merit whatsoever'.

 

[Gumby]

Ooops. forgot something: 😀

 

[Ade-oh]

I love this thread: from a comedy point of view, it's the gift that keeps on giving🙂

 

[Jack Conrad]

Bokeh is the scourge of all good photography.

Real photographers must all band together to destroy bokeh wherever it's found. The world must be purged of it or else it will sicken an entire century of great photography.

Seriously though... a little Olympus digital P@S is wicked sharp. Sharp enough to cut bologna.

But after a while, a man wants more than bologna.

Smear some bokeh on that bologna and you got a sandwich worth eating. 😉

 

[ReneSpudvilas]

In Japan, if a photo has a big wash of bokeh, we say; '' bokeh bokeh''.... double the fuzz....! It also describes someone who is being a bit senile, or forgetful... 'man, you are boketeru! ''

 

[ReneSpudvilas]

ULRIKFT... those shots are fantastic.... what lens were you using? Something VERY fast, by the look of it... and how were you staying wide open in snowy daylight? M8 or hexar?

 

[maddoc]

Funny, not one of my Japanese friends who is interested into photography ever mentioned that word, "boke(h)" ... 🙄

In Japan, if a photo has a big wash of bokeh, we say; '' bokeh bokeh''.... double the fuzz....! It also describes someone who is being a bit senile, or forgetful... 'man, you are boketeru! ''

 

[ampguy]

is this bokeh? FTW!

 

[mediumformatpho]

My problem is 98% of the people using the word "bokeh" have no idea what they're looking at and what is actually good. At this time it is a fetish that I hope goes away -- at use of the term...

 

[ReneSpudvilas]

Maddoc, really? It is the only word I hear to describe blurred areas... boke, boke boke, and boketeiru, and bura bura.... actually bura bura is usually negative, like when everyones faces are smeared across the negative... 🙂

Mediumformatpho.... what are you talking about?! 🙂

 

[kbb]

Anyone else think that "bokeh"(really shallow DOF) is often the refuge of the unskilled/lazy shooter?

Bokeh is not "shallow depth of field", it is the character or appearance of the out of focus areas.

 

[Makten]

Good or interesting bokeh is awesome when used in the right way.

Both with Nikkor 50/1.2. First one at f/2 and the second wide open.