Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

It is a simple fact that is obvious to everyone who understands that bokeh is a quality and not a quantity. You can choose to create blur. But you cannot create blur without bokeh or create bokeh without blur. The bokeh is there with no attention from the photographer, who merely chooses what kind of bokeh.

"As for your other comments, they are adding value to the discussion of what may contribute to 'bokeh' and how it does it, what the effects may or may not be. You have, whether you think so or not, started to contribute specifics to this thread that help the "how is 'bokeh' created. Now, I'm not going to go back and peruse all of your posts, and I'm not trying to dismiss your perspective, but you are now adding some concrete contributions ..."

So nothing has changed except you have been driven into a very tight corner. Do go back and look at what has been posted previously! You might now be able to make at least some use of more simply stated facts, rather than just deny them!

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

Show where this is anything other than your imagination.

RodB Loc: Dallas/Mckinney

Quick Reply... the best lens for great Bokeh.... Nikon AF DC-NIKKOR 135mm f/2D Lens

I have never seen a more beautiful Bokeh than the Nikon 135mm F/2 DC lens.... just wow.

R


http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/135mm-f2-dc.htm
...The Nikon AF 135mm f/2 DC is Nikon's, and arguably the world's, greatest portrait lens. It has a very similar smaller brother, the 105mm f/2 DC.

The 135mm DC is also Nikon's sharpest 135mm lens, and an extraordinarily great lens for nature and landscape photography. It is worlds sharper and freer from spherical aberration than any of the the old manual focus 135mm f/2 lenses.

The hood is the best built-in hood I've ever used. It is metal, and it locks into position so it doesn't shrivel down like most other built-in hoods.

You have to move a ring to get to manual focus mode, and once you do, manual focus is fantastic.


Defocus Control

DC stands for Defocus Control. A lot got lost in the translation on the way from Japan. The key word is control, not defocus. This is not a soft-focus lens; it is a lens that has been specifically designed and patented both for superior bokeh (the softness of out-of-focus areas), and the ability to control this bokeh for optimum results under all conditions...

How do you set this 135mm lens for optimum bokeh? Easy: set this ring to the same aperture at which you're shooting. Press the unlock button on the left in order to move it, otherwise it stays locked. Set it to the R side to make backgrounds go soft and disappear, or the F side if you want to optimize it for junk in the foreground.

Hint: You should almost never have out-of-focus objects in front of your subject or in the foreground. It looks unnatural and weird. Our eyes naturally focus on the closest thing to us, so it's uncomfortable when a photo has a soft foreground or other distractions which our eyes can't bring into focus.

The effects of this defocus control are very subtle. You won't see it through your viewfinder. When used properly, the 135 DC turns backgrounds into the softest, smoothest washes of color you've ever seen. Turn the ring in the wrong direction, and out-of-focus backgrounds get harsher. These are subtle effects. Computer people may not see these subtleties at all, but artists will.

Leave the Defocus Image Control ring at zero, and the 135 DC simply acts as the sharpest 135mm lens you've ever used.

The defocus control only controls defocus, or the parts of the image that are not in focus.

If you set the control beyond the aperture you're using, like set to f/5.6 when shooting at f/2, you can get a softer focus effect.

The in-focus part of the image is always ultra sharp. This is not a soft-focus lens. It's only the unfocused parts of the image which are made softer. No one in the USA understands this lost-in-translation subtlety, and mistakenly thinks this is a soft focus lens. That's why this lens isn't popular in the USA.

The 135 DC has a control for all of this. This is why Nikon has the patent on it. You can adjust the lens from normal to super bokeh to soft focus if you push it too far. You'll notice that dedicated soft-focus lenses have no separate defocus control; they are fixed one way and the only control you have is your shooting aperture.

This lens is so unique that Nikon will probably discontinue it just around the time people start figuring out what it does, and then the used price will skyrocket to $4,000, just like it did with the 28mm f/1.4, for exactly the same reason..... (see link for entire article).


All you would want to know about Bokeh except ... get the lens I mentioned above... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokeh

selmslie Loc: Fernandina Beach, FL, USA

A "simple fact" is about all you might be capable of understanding.

But you overestimate your capacity for comprehension. That's why you have painted yourself in to a corner and can't answer either of my direct questions.

You don't understand bokeh and can't talk about it with authority because it is not a simple fact. Bokeh is over your head.

You don't have the courage or intelligence to respond so I am going to bed. I will leave your carcass to the remaining piranhas.

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

Hmm, a corner, who is in a corner? I think that you are ducking and weaving, and searching for a way out. You aren't answering or addressing the questions posed to you by myself or others, and even when I suggested that you were making a positive contribution, you gave no attention or credit.

Where does that leave you?

However, perhaps we should move on and continue this discussion with others that do have positive contributions to make.

tdekany Loc: Oregon

http://ljhollowayphotography.com/families/ - to see pleasing bokeh

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

Sure. So how does she achieve those effects? How much is lens and staging, how much is post, vignetting and so on?

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

I tend to agree totally! I've been using both the 85mm f/1.4 AF-D and the 135mm f/2 DC for years. I prefer the 135mm focal length for portraits anyway, and the tricks that can be done with defocus control are fun.

I will admit the DC functionality is not as useful with the instant preview capability of digital cameras as it was with film. With film, and no preview, one could really nail were the edge of the DOF would be. Today just take a shot and look to see...

But the bokeh is fabulous!

tdekany Loc: Oregon

I’d say all of the above. According to her, her most used lens is her 200mm f2

tdekany Loc: Oregon

So where are your shots from these lenses? Lol!

bmike101 Loc: Gainesville, Florida

Buddy, show me some of your shots. I would like to see your bokeh. As I am also excited to see SS's bokeh pictures (when he has the time to post them).

tdekany Loc: Oregon

Start here: this is my favorite of his. Don’t forget, this is a professional photographer.

http://apaflo.com/kivgiq15/d8a_3713.jpg.html

bmike101 Loc: Gainesville, Florida

He must of had an off-day. If you go look at his other photos (http://apaflo.com/) they aren't too bad. There are a few with blown-out skies but that's all (to my untrained eye). (I only looked at the thumbnails)

tdekany Loc: Oregon

You said it. Untrained eyes.

There is not one “pro quality” photo on his website that I have ever seen. This is the result of 60 years of perfecting his style. At least that is what he claimed not that long ago in another thread. If I have ever seen gear wasted on someone, it is him and wrongy. Couldn’t tell you which is worse. Oh and Apaflo is the same person who claims that Lisa Holloway’s work would be laughed at in the town he lives in and that no one would buy her work. It’s time for someone to become a comedian.

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

He may be correct about her work being laughed at in his town, but Utqiagvik isn't exactly a representative town for the rest of the world. What date in March does the Sun rise again to shed enlightenment upon the situation?