In this Photography 101, Jimmy explore the ideas of bokeh and why you can’t use it all the time.
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Remember photography is not just those expensive lenses and creamy bokeh they create. Think deeper next time you click that shutter button! Happy Photography!
I agree with your point…but it isn't just for lazy people. It's for people who know how to use it. I ask myself when choosing my F stop: do I want those who view my photo to know where it was taken or do I just want to separate my subject from the distractions of the background…OR do I want to show just enough that only those with a keen eye will appreciate the portrait AND the background. I've used all three methods depending on the purpose of the photo. You talked about this also and I appreciate your fair treatment of the subject.
maybe it's true to you and these so call photographers who posting their comments on here…
First time write on your vlogging.Pen F discontinued by olympus.Any concern on that on that.Does it say anything on mft.Love your videos and use OMD EM10 MK2.
I dont like Bokeh that much wou;]ld rather see the back ground great article oh it was fummy you in the sun dressed in heaps of levels of clothes and I just back tfrom the air show knocked me around today 42 degree C and on the tarmack bet it was worse stay safe great report
Totally agree. It has its place but not every photo.
Great work…well thought out
Take that, Kai!
dislike due to wrong bokeh pronunciation repeatedly XD
I think so too – I don't use Bokeh often, usually it's only when the client wants it and they usually want it :/
Were you at the Hayes?
not using a lens hood can be lazy too you get a lot of flare
I thought everything that's in the out of focus areas is bokeh. Its a natural thing that happens and i bet 100% of photos have bokeh in them
Absolutely agreed. More depth of field is so important and is a strength of M43. Getting on the full frame bandwagon based on ""bokeh" and shallow DOF is just not justified. Watch the original movie "Citizen Kane" and see how every shot has such a great DOF so the viewer can see everything in focus. In this 1941 movie, we can sure learn a thing or two from Orson Welles. He went out of his way to do this (deep DOF) and was so challenging and cutting edge.
Well. Risky subject. Speaking as an “old school” photographer, I totally agree with you. But I think you’re pretty brave putting it out there! There are bound to be some people who’ll take you up on a frank discussion about it 😳😁
Title says it all…. too many obsessed with technical instead of content.
'nuff said.
I get great shallow depth of field with my iPhone. Not the fake computer generated stuff. I pick clean backgrounds and shoot tight in. Shooting a portrait on a Long Beach again tight in and the back ground is smooth as silk.
Which explains why so many phone makers spend so much time trying to get the "bokeh" look. Sigh..it's a choice man deal with it let's not get on the dying gasps of micro 4/3 to say bokeh is for lazy people.You can always buy a speedbooster if that's what is needed. There is a reason why FF is taking over it's what people want, – deal with it with dignity not sour grapes
Agreed, but out of focus background is what you refer, bokeh is the quality of the blur. Separation of subject is not bokeh, out of focus is separation. No? I've seen instagram feeds using only this technique and boy is it boring. I never saw the sense in analysing the quality of the blur (bokeh), it's just blur. As you say, there are more ways to take an interestig photo and being creative, using light and shadow being one of them.
Bokeh is for dramatizing reality by isolating the subject, similar to fill flash outdoors. People who want their portraits taken like it because it makes them seem more important than they are by dramatizing their individuality. And of course bokeh is important for macro photographers, flowers, insects etc. I shoot street and it has no place in street, where you want as much as is reasonably possible to see what the eye sees. That means deep focus photography. If you see bokeh on the street you need to see your ophthalmologist.
Great video. Shazam is failing to tell me what the opening piano track is though. Do anyone know? Cheers.
But, wait. Bokeh is EVERYTHING, isn't it!? And noise. And sharpness. And resolution. You can't make the best high-resolution, HDR soot and chalk picktchures of back-lighted, shadowy figures holding umbrellas in the rain, with long, brooding shadows cast on cobblestone streets – the images that IG groups love so much – if you don't have ultra-fast lenses on FF cameras…
Seriously, I couldn't agree more. Bokeh is just another one of those "things". Some people latch onto it, it becomes trendy, high-visibility ut00b "presenters" flog it, and it suddenly is THE most important aspect of the kit, and one of the reasons M43 cameras aren't "professional" enough. (It must be true if people repeat it often enough.) Perhaps ironically, I often find myself shooting my lowly Olympus M43 cameras, with their "slow" f/1,8 (f/3,6 "equivalent"!) at f/2.8-4 because wide open, there's often too MUCH background blur.
Creamy, blurry backgrounds can be beautiful, except when they don't serve the photograph. Thanks for taking the contrarian position and saying so, for being a voice of reasonable dissent in a world over-dominated by trendiness.
I fully agreed with you. I think that bokeh is used as a crutch for lazy composition work. They're using a missile yo obliterate anything that can distract the viewer from what they want to show.
And thanks you forma your videos
I like to see the whole picture too.
Yes, cannot agree more. Bokeh makes a photo more beautiful, but cannot make a photo shine.
I hate hearing that word anymore and how loosely it is being used. Having the ability to shoot or mimick shallow DoF doesn't mean it's good Bokeh. If it isn't aestheticly pleasing, it's garbage, like the smeary mess of smartphone cameras that I call Fokeh. However I've seen people get creative with Fokeh but I've seen people over use it too.
Hah, you know me well enough to know my attitude; they are not just lazy but talentless; scrub that last word its too cruel, maybe talentless but, if not, certainly ill informed and a dip though some old masters at a Gallery will educate and set people straight. Bokeh is a fashion promoted by manufacturers to sell expensive lenses; a move that seems fully supported by the Photo Press. I dont know why as high end photographers using Medium Format struggle to get more DoF than even ordinary photographers; they know the importance of background. Every square inch of an image is important; as you point out, if any of the out of focus areas jar then the whole image is ruined, no matter how pretty the subject. Expensive fast lenses are mostly poor lenses; they are designed to perform one function well. They are optimised to provide edge to edge sharp narrow DoF images under studio conditions, beloved of fashion and commercial photographers. Unless of course you are prepared to shell out £12Grand for a Leica Noctilux which has 7 of the most exquisitely fashioned lenses made anywhere. Glass is nobody's friend; above 10 elements the effect is to deaden microtones and that means lifeless images. A 20 element Pro lens is idea for a bokeh rich photo fashion shoot but at a gross disadvantage at the hyperfocal sweet spot. By buying these lenses you are essentially deadening your work. Please dont dispute this or take my word for it; go and look. Go and get some depth in your photos, go look at Leica street photos and then look at a similar shot from a fashionably fast lens; educate your eye. I could write a book on the physics of why this is true, it comes down to quantum processes in glass air interface scattering, coatings are worse because they maintain light levels but select spectrally (hence the multicoloured flare in a fast lens). Go reassess your whole image and buy some cheaper but fantastic low glass lenses and you will be happier all round; especially when the fashion changes; you really cant buy better than the Olympus Premium f1.8 primes or their Panasonic equivalent, they give Leica a run for their money 😉
Hi Jimmy you took my words ,
Great video , you discuss the essence of photography . Thumps up
Wow how sharp is the video. Also kind of crazy because I used to work near where you were. Many years ago now but it looks lovely in your sunny video.
1st 😀 not lazy in responding to the video alert