What is bokeh?

[Ufatz]

Might I please have an explanation for the term bokeh? My mind is empty. And I have my new 70-300mm Nikon on the way for the D50. I'd hate to think I committed to this great lens and then will come to learn it doesn't have enough bokeh? Is bokeh something I should see my proctologist about? Can I get sling for it? What is common retail price for bokeh? Is there a bokeh school?

Help help help.

[polarsusd81]

Well it is easiest to explain as background blur in photos. No you don't need to see a proctologist about it, but maybe a good optomotrist. Really, what it is, is the seperation between the subject of your photo and the background. Depth of field is a phrase commonly associated with it, and a larger appeture (smaller f number) will give you a shorter focal length. Therefore, more backrgound blur. Larger appetures also allow you to use faster shutter speeds.

My best explination to date would be a comparison with the human eye. For instance, if you open your eye and close it very fast, the only things you will remember clearly are those that your eye was focused on upon opening, everything else in the scene will be faded. If you hold your eye open a while, there is more time to absorb what it sees and you are left with a greater sense of detail in the scene.

Pretty much the same way a camera and lens work.

Tom

[Ufatz]

Oh for Pete's sake. Background diffusion through careful consideration of depth of field. Good ol' DOF. Okay...I feel Oh So Much Better.Like in the old days when I would pre-focus the Speed Graphic so I'd get the politician tack sharp and the dumb voter totally soft and out of focus! Okay. Thanks again.

[Steve Foss]

Bokeh also is influenced by the construction of the lens aperture. F-stop being equal, lenses with more aperture blades produce smoother, more mellow or "buttery" bokeh than lenses with fewer blades.

[Ufatz]

Huh. I'll be darned. More blades produce....etc. Thanks Steve. Had not occured to me. Someday, when I can hire a computer genius to help me I will post an image. I have checked into it a couple times and me eyes began to glaze over after ten minutes or so and I moved along to contemplating something more simple, like the meaning of life. Or why kids put earrings in their noses. Ha!