Bouquet? Bokeh? Bokah? Smokah! My senility shows again. All I see in lens reviews is "quality of bokeh" (or alternate spelling). It means background. But background is just that...

graybeard

My senility shows again. All I see in lens reviews is "quality of bokeh" (or alternate spelling). It means background. But background is just that, background. Bokah is something special. In fact, it seems to have overtaken foreground, or subject of the photo, and it no longer matters what is central and in focus, what matters is Bokah!! In fact many old lenses that were sitting on shelves collecting dust have found new life because it has been discovered they have great Bokah! The lens itself was completely unaware of this fact most of its life but now it has been elevated in value from virtual nothing to ever increasing amounts. (BTW, I have a Pentagon 50mm F1.8 who the experts say has fantastic Bokah! Wanna buy it for a thousand bucks)? So photography has gone all the way from focusing on the subject and blurring or just ignoring the background, to ignoring what is in focus and getting orgasmic over the Bokah! So what am I missing here? Feel free to insult me, I have a thick skin.

Hank Radt

Good article here: https://photographylife.com/what-is-bokeh

graybeard

I read the article. I didn't see any birds or flowers. All I saw was Bokah! I am trying to adjust to this new world of ours where I must ignore the sharp, in focus subjects of the foreground and give my total attention, and pay artistic homage to, the background. Er, excuse me the Bokah!!

Darkroom317 Loc: Mishawaka, IN

Bokeh is a very specific term that has to do with the quality of out of focus areas, particularly highlights. It has been a buzzword for a while now and is often misused. While I find it pleasing sometimes, it is far overused and too much emphasis has been put on it. In short it has become overrated marketing hype.

RichardTaylor Loc: Sydney, Australia

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graybeard

Darkroom317 wrote:

Bokeh is a very specific term that has to do with the quality of out of focus areas, particularly highlights. It has been a buzzword for a while now and is often misused. While I find it pleasing sometimes, it is far overused and too much emphasis has been put on it. In short it is has become overrated marketing hype.

Wow! Somebody who agrees with me! Sort of. Marketing hype. Yeah, that's good. Makes sense. Especially since it is money, and not some mysterious physical force, that makes the world go around. Thanks for agreeing with me, I hardly ever get any of that.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

graybeard wrote:

I read the article. I didn't see any birds or flowers. All I saw was Bokah! I am trying to adjust to this new world of ours where I must ignore the sharp, in focus subjects of the foreground and give my total attention, and pay artistic homage to, the background. Er, excuse me the Bokah!!

When I say "Oh, the background is out of focus so it isolates the subject." the Bokahistas almost have a coronary. It has to be artistic blur, not just plain old out of focus. And the focus has to fall off very fast and be extremely out of focus creating a misty (opps, I mean creamy) effect. We used to call that "shallow depth of field" and it was a bad thing in everything but a studio portrait lens. In fact a lot of portraits, including a lot of Hollywood publicity shots were tack sharp front to back, maybe a little smoothing of skin to hide blemishes. The "bokah" that many like today could hide a nose amputation, let alone a minor skin blemish.

Hank Radt

There are 7 pictures of birds and flowers, each with bokeh and each where the subject is in focus. Note that the article does not say to ignore the sharp in-focus subject, it describes how to use bokeh to enhance that subject.

Whether you attempt to use bokeh is clearly a personal choice.

Just don't be snarky when someone is trying to help.

graybeard

Hank Radt wrote:

There are 7 pictures of birds and flowers, each with bokeh and each where the subject is in focus. Note that the article does not say to ignore the sharp in-focus subject, it describes how to use bokeh to enhance that subject.

Whether you attempt to use bokeh is clearly a personal choice.

Just don't be snarky when someone is trying to help.

Well we know I have a thick skin, I see you have a thin one. Snarky? Is that a new word (like Bokah!) or is that a word so old it was even before my time ?

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

graybeard wrote:

Well we know I have a thick skin, I see you have a thin one. Snarky? Is that a new word (like Bokah!) or is that a word so old it was even before my time ?

The "Snark" was an early cruise missile developed in the late 40s & early50s and deployed only from 58-61.
During testing so many failed and feel into the ocean of the test range that the area was referred to as "Snark Infested Waters".

Hank Radt

graybeard wrote:

Well we know I have a thick skin, I see you have a thin one. Snarky? Is that a new word (like Bokah!) or is that a word so old it was even before my time ?

Uneducated as well: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/snarky

Swede Loc: Trail, BC Canada

I'm with you on this one, who gives a rats arse what the background looks like if the subject is in focus.

Swede

graybeard

Hank Radt wrote:

Uneducated as well: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/snarky

I see you are skilled in using published sources to support your argument, and after reading the definition I agree that I am snarky. However, I consider it a compliment rather than an insult. I do have 2 degrees, but they are old like me, so perhaps they don't count. But thanks for the compliment, and keep ignoring the subjects and praising the backgrounds, oops Bokah! of your photos!

graybeard

Swede wrote:

I'm with you on this one, who gives a rats arse what the background looks like if the subject is in focus.

Swede

A fellow Philistine!

Swede Loc: Trail, BC Canada

graybeard wrote:

A fellow Philistine!

Is that a good thing- hope so

Been called a lot of things but a "Philistine", sounds like a friend of mine's beer mug- get ready--

"Phil's stein"

Swede