terriv - this appears to be a much better result than the initial thumbnail posted. You might want to look at adding a DOF calculator to your smartphone. I'd also look at adjusting the aperture / DOF to capture in sharp focus the entire spiney core of the flower with only the flower petals fade away into a blur. Here's where your tripod is a greatly useful tool letting you set-up the shot, lock-down the camera and then experiment by varying the aperture from widest to narrow with a few images at each setting and then analyzing the results on your computer monitor.
Not sure what a dof calculator app is, but will probably try it.
I googled "boku" and found 7 different meanings- none of which have anything to do with photography.
Others have already corrected your spelling to "bokeh".
When you use that term what are you talking about?
Are you attempting to achieve shallow depth of field, but you're calling it "bokeh photography"?
If so, that is an incorrect use of the word.
kymarto
Loc: Portland OR and Milan Italy
As long as we are correcting spelling let us also correct pronunciation. I don’t know how Americans came up with “BO-ka” like the veggie burger or half the name of the city in Florida. The original Japanese pronunciation, and in the rest of the world, is “bo-KEH”, which means fuzzy or unfocused in that language.
BlueMorel wrote:
First of all, it's "bokeh" not boku. What lens are you using? I use a prime lens that stops down to f-1.8, use on aperture priority, manual focus so that center of flower is in sharp focus. Use tripod. Take the photo at a different time of day. I can't comment on using an ND filter to cut down on light because I've never tried a macro using one.
Its not stopping down to f/1.8, but opening up to f/1.8, you stop down to small apertures and open up to larger ones!! And it does not have to be /f1.8 or similar, a lens can have pleasing bokeh at/f8!!
I have thought a long time before responding. Yes, I managed to mangle the spelling of the technique " Bokeh". I honestly thought either spelling was ok..(maybe lazy on my part re spelling) I was just so eager for your expert help. Instead, I got hate posts. ie "mostly French," and other lengthly comments re my mangling of the word "Bokeh".
Buy hey, was all that hatefull posts helpful. Yes, I asked "Bob", not to respond to my posts.. I have run across Bob in the past, and if there is something something snotty to be said, he says it.!!
But this website is not a a website for English teachers. My post indicates I know what I am doing, just not sure what I was doing wrong, or I guess how to properly spell Bokeh.
I was so eager to seek your expert help, and I was sloppy re checking the spelling.. I received more posts re the incorrect spelling than I did how to correct my settings. SHAME ON YOU!!!
That is it. !! I plan to unjoin from this website. Surely there are more helpful websites.
kymarto
Loc: Portland OR and Milan Italy
“Bokeh” actually refers to the quality of the out-of-focus areas rather than simply having OOF areas. Otherwise you are really talking about shallow depth of field. That can be achieved with most any lens, although not easily on cameras with smaller sensors. For best results always use maximum aperture. The closer you focus the shallower your DOF will be. The longer the lens and/or the larger the aperture the farther away you can focus and still blur the background.
BlueMorel wrote:
First of all, it's "bokeh" not boku. What lens are you using? I use a prime lens that stops down to f-1.8, use on aperture priority, manual focus so that center of flower is in sharp focus. Use tripod. Take the photo at a different time of day. I can't comment on using an ND filter to cut down on light because I've never tried a macro using one.
Stops down to F1.8? I think you stop down from F1.8 to smaller aps. like F8 etc. and open up to F1.8.
It looks like only not knowing the correct spelling, I also did not thoougly understand the concept. Thanks for your assistance re the actual bokeh technique
kymarto
Loc: Portland OR and Milan Italy
Now that you've got an idea of the mechanics, the next question is what the lens actually does for the OOF parts of the image. Modern lenses generally do not have very special bokeh because they are all too well corrected. Here are a few examples of pix with various vintage lenses known for their bokeh rendering.
Dallmeyer 230mm f2.0 Super Six Anastigmat
(
Download)
Dallmeyer 230mm f2.0 Super Six Anastigmat
(
Download)
Elgeet 50mm f1.5 Cine Navitar
(
Download)
Ilex Oscillo Paragon 80mm f1.3
(
Download)
Kilfitt Makro Kilar 90mm f2.8
(
Download)
P. Angenieux Type 86 100mm f1.2 projection lens
(
Download)
P. Angenieux Type 65 85mm f1.4 projection lens
(
Download)
Wollensak Oscillo Raptar 75mm f1.9
(
Download)
If you want to reply, then
register here. Registration is free and your account is created instantly, so you can post right away.