PHOTOGRAPHY EXPOSED

by John Peters A.R.P.S.



  

BOKEH

Being honest, having taken around 600 Gigs of digital photos as an active photographer, I don't think I have purposely produced a shot where Bokeh was used to enhance my image. Other web sites will describe it better. This type of Bokeh benefits most from using F2.8 or less on a fast, PRIME lens. I tend to have produced a different sort of effect on occasion, not normally termed Bokeh, more of a STARBURST effect achieved by selecting a small (say F11 or F16) APERTURE. It uses the DIAPHRAM in the lens for effect, kind of working at the other end of the scale for Bokeh as we normally refer to it. When I was learning photography and didn't understand apertures and their affect on DEPTH OF FIELD, I stupidy spent money on a Cokin Starburst filter. A case of 'All the gear and no idea'.

TOP TIP Stop your lens down to F11 or F16 and bright areas of light may be produced with a Starburst effect.

Starburst
Eyemouth High School. The street lamps give a pleasing starburst effect, a slow shutter speed recorded moving car light trails to add a streak of colour and the moon was captured using my EXTREME BRACKETING METHOD then overlayed as a separate layer in PHOTOSHOP. A TRIPOD with CABLE-RELEASE were used. An advanced technique, not for a beginner.

TOP TIP Sometimes it pays to give a viewer or a judge a wee bit extra such as the moon in this image. Go the extra mile, think out of the box, do something different. Don't be 'run of the mill'. It pays to take shots that on their own are not 'winners' but when added or blended with another photograph, produce something extra. Please note that because a moon showing any detail is at least 6 or more stops or F numbers than the main part of the photo, the chances are that it has been blended in.

If you want to do this with software that costs nothing, look up BLENDING.