the bokeh boys have won!!

back alley

back alley

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i have an extreme dislike for all things bokeh!

buying a lens because of how the background blurs seems ridiculous...

countless arguments about it seems even worse...

but you know what?

i just caught myself looking at an image and thinking to myself..'man, that bokeh sucks!'

i give up
you all win

i'm gonna go and take some sleeping pills now...:bang:
 
shooting a picture to produce MAXIMUM BOKEH : probably not very good
having bokeh in a picture incidentally : probably alright
having a gentle, graduated transition to OoF : potentially amazing

I am specifically thinking about NoTraces' recent Pentax 67 shots; the way he uses DoF and tends to capture the ground giving us a gradient of sharp to unsharp gives his images a fantastic dimension. I dont think those shots would have been as good stopped way, way down to get maximum DoF
 
redisburning said:
shooting a picture to produce MAXIMUM BOKEH : probably not very good
having bokeh in a picture incidentally : probably alright
having a gentle, graduated transition to OoF : potentially amazing

I am specifically thinking about NoTraces' recent Pentax 67 shots; the way he uses DoF and tends to capture the ground giving us a gradient of sharp to unsharp gives his images a fantastic dimension. I dont think those shots would have been as good stopped way, way down to get maximum DoF
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Missed that, any link pls?:angel:

Joe,

there's a show on TV here that's originally English and called 'Keeping up appearances'. In it stars a self-made posh lady called Hyacinth Bouquet, who is constantly addressed as mrs. Bucket.

Your Bokeh maybe should be Buckeh too, to get a message across to the Bokeh Boys ;)
 
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btw talking about things we have a serious dislike for, and I dont mean to hijack so you can disappear this post if you must, but I cannot ****ing stand having an image with a motion blurred subject and a sharp background, or tiny little people in a frame of something awesome. exceptions, of course, exist, but seriously don't do it.

edit: here is a great example

http://www.flickr.com/photos/notraces/6373745801/in/contacts/

maybe notraces can post the actual image. perfect example IMO, with a fantastically natural style.

p.s. I love Keeping Up Appearances. the episode where Hyacinth basically makes Richard steal a Rolls Royce had me in stitches.
 
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buzzardkid said:
Missed that, any link pls?:angel:

Joe,

there's a show on TV here that's originally English and called 'Keeping up appearances'. In it stars a self-made posh lady called Hyacinth Bouquet, who is constantly addressed as mrs. Bucket.

Your Bokeh maybe should be Buckeh too, to get a message across to the Bokeh Boys ;)
Click to expand...
I think you have got it back to front. Her name is in fact Bucket, but she's too toffy-nosed to accept such a common name and refers to herself as Bouquet. Married a lower middle class gent, but her own background is common as dirt. :)
 
Some people like duck a l'orange (i.e. bokeh), others like macaroni and cheese (i.e. "sharpness")

Going on and on about how duck a l'orange isn't like macaroni and cheese shows more lack of understanding about duck a l'orange than about understanding macaroni and cheese. I believe you just have either when you feel like it.

Just sayin'
 
Bokeh is only noticed... with regard to "bad" and "good" ... by pixel peeping lens nerds. Non-photographers most likely never say... "oh, man, that blurry background ruins the photo!"

I've come to hate hearing about bokeh and sharpness. It gets boring and what matters more in a photo is the content and overall photo...not a blurry background or razor sharp image. We've all seen great photos that are technically bad.
 
I love how Kai on DigitalRev TV (a guilty pleasure on the order of watching "Night of the Shrews") says BO-KEH! It just cracks me up.

That said, I'm a fan of most optical aberrations and BO-KEH(!). I'll say it's a devotion to pictorialism, and not just a lack of talent.... :O
 
I have to admit the only time I notice bokeh is if it is is distracting . That is you notice the background more than the focus of the photograph. The only thing that annoys me as much as the " look at my bokeh " thing is cat pictures. Why do people assume their sleeping cat is interesting to anyone but themselves. Sorry had to get the cat rant off my chest.
 
it'sawhat? said:
I have to admit the only time I notice bokeh is if it is is distracting . That is you notice the background more than the focus of the photograph. The only thing that annoys me as much as the " look at my bokeh " thing is cat pictures. Why do people assume their sleeping cat is interesting to anyone but themselves. Sorry had to get the cat rant off my chest.
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YES!

(To both bokeh and cat rant. There are some good cat pics but very, very few.)

Cheers,

R.
 
Given the fact that most of an image will (should) be out of focus I think "bokeh" is the most important quality of any lens north of 24mm
 
it'sawhat? said:
I have to admit the only time I notice bokeh is if it is is distracting . That is you notice the background more than the focus of the photograph. The only thing that annoys me as much as the " look at my bokeh " thing is cat pictures. Why do people assume their sleeping cat is interesting to anyone but themselves. Sorry had to get the cat rant off my chest.
Click to expand...

I like bokeh,cat, & even a brick wall photo now & then. Especially if the bricks have some texture.:)
 
buzzardkid said:
Missed that, any link pls?:angel:

Joe,

there's a show on TV here that's originally English and called 'Keeping up appearances'. In it stars a self-made posh lady called Hyacinth Bouquet, who is constantly addressed as mrs. Bucket.

Your Bokeh maybe should be Buckeh too, to get a message across to the Bokeh Boys ;)
Click to expand...

LOL!!! I thought only i watch that show. Got to love British humor:D
 
I don't know why people rant that much about 'bokeh'. Sure the 'look at my bokeh' pictures are crap but most of the times they wouldn't be better if stopped down.

Personally, I've just recently come to the conclusion that some of my photos could benefit from less DoF. And every time I used my Canon 24-105mm lens out of the studio I notice the limitations of f4 as maximum aperture.
 
IMHO bokeh is relevant when shooting portraits at f5.6 or wider out of doors or with a varied background. It is an assistance. Bokeh is one of the definitions of a good lens. But, of course there are many other requirements.
 
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