Comments on: Bokeh. What the hell is it?

By: Klaus Shuler

Klaus Shuler — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 05:12:17 +0000

Bokeh is most affected by spherical aberration of a lens, an intrinsic property. THis is one reason expensive lenses are expensive. Spherical aberration is when the light rays hitting the outside of the lens focus closer than the focal point, leading to either a nice smooth blur for background objects, or a ring for foreground objects. Most lenses are slightly overcorrected for spherical aberration, leading to rings of light in the background, and this leads to most of the problems we see in images with “bad bokeh.” For useful details and diagrams, see: http://bokehtests.com/Site/About_Bokeh.html

Klaus

By: 2. Good bokeh or bad bokeh « Bath Portraiture Class

2. Good bokeh or bad bokeh « Bath Portraiture Class — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 22:53:12 +0000

[...] 2. Good bokeh or bad bokeh Perhaps I did not explain bokeh that well, this is the Wikipedia definition. There are some examples of good and bad bokeh on this site. [...]

By: John Watson

John Watson — Sun, 11 Jun 2006 00:44:36 +0000

Bokeh refers the quality of the entire out of focus area. Every bit of light coming from the background creates a blurry circle. The highlights just stand out because they are brighter.

By: shenmue

shenmue — Sat, 10 Jun 2006 22:17:43 +0000

so, which one actually the bokeh is? is it that blur background or is it that blurry circle highlight in the blur background?
or, yes u can say that bokeh is no different with a blur background?. is it just another name of a blur BG?

By: SeanS

SeanS — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 01:38:40 +0000

dave - pls post, it’d be informative… I suspect most of my bokeh’s have been of the bad sort…

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 00:53:19 +0000

Since bokeh is something you notice mostly when it’s bad, it would be good to put an example of bad bokeh as well. I have some examples I can upload from my Canon f/1.8 mkII lens; it’s a nice sharp lens, but the 5-blade iris, oddly-shaped field of focus, and diverging radial and axial MTF characteristics make for bad bokeh in certain situations, particularly with really bright out of focus highlights. The result is a sort of “vibrating” effect that distracts from the subject.

By: six

six — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 17:57:52 +0000

john — may your wellspring of creativity and generosity never run dry! i’m such a fan…

this entry is great. the whole concept is wonderful. you enhance the community so much. thanks.

By: jess

jess — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 23:31:17 +0000

Wow, thanks for the explanation! I had no idea what bokeh was, and kept meaning to look it up but never got around to.

Your explanation was very easy to read and understand. This blog is so helpful. Congrats!

By: carpeicthus

carpeicthus — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 19:26:57 +0000

I find most people don’t even know they’re noticing it, but good bokeh can make a good picture a little better, and awful bokeh can ruin it (particularly on mirror lenses).