Are you tired of seeing the typical photos of out of focus lights with geometric shapes and not knowing how to do them? This is known as the “Bokeh effect”, and it is based on how the lens of our objective makes the blur. In this post, we will explain what this effect is and how to achieve it as advised by https://iphotoalternative.com/best-aperture-alternatives-mac-users/.
What Is The Bokeh Effect
“Bokeh” is a Japanese word that means blur and refers to the subjective quality of lens blur. It is not about quantity – more or less blur – but quality. Therefore, one Bokeh differs from another in the type of “blur” that one or the other lens produces when blurring.
But, if it is a characteristic of the objective lens, is it possible to master it in my favour? Yes and no. You can learn to control the effect, but the type of “blemish” your lens creates may not fully satisfy you, it’s a matter of taste. In any case, in this post, we will also explain how to create Bokeh with a specific type of geometric shape manually and with Photoshop.
How To Control It
First of all, to create this effect in the photograph that we are going to take, there must be small light sources (a window would not work, for example). Once we know what we want to photograph, we must play with two elements:
- Opening of the diaphragm. It should be maxed out.
- Depth of field. The closer the subject to be photographed is to the camera, the more out of focus the background will be.
Once these two factors are controlled, you must manually focus on the main subject of your photograph (the background lights must be at a considerable distance, more than 3 meters). If you want to shoot at a shutter speed slower than 1/60 to get more light in, keep in mind that you will need a tripod.
How To Create A Custom “Bokeh Effect”
We already know how to obtain the effect that our camera allows us, but is it possible to create the shapes that we want? We are ready to do so.
To do it manually, you have to cut out the shape you want your lights to have on a black card (circles, stars, fir trees) and stick it very carefully to the lens. You can also buy the filters already made. And you will have your Bokeh!