bokeh

[panchro-press]

Ok guys, you got me. What does 'bokeh' mean?

[David A. Goldfarb]

In photography "bokeh" refers to the visual quality of the out of focus image. It comes from a Japanese word that means "out of focus," that can also refer to things like absent mindedness and senility.

The quality of the out of focus image was considered to be very important in the age of soft focus lenses and was often described in lens advertisements and catalogues, and then somewhere in the 1960s and 70s, when sharpness became the prime consideration to the exclusion of everything else, most photographers stopped paying attention to this issue, even though many images contain large areas that are out of focus.

As I see it, sharpness is about figure, and bokeh is about ground. Usually the figure is more important than the ground, but the ground isn't irrelevant.

[wfwhitaker]

One of the best discussions of bokeh that I've found:

http://www.vanwalree.com/optics/bokeh.html

[Preston]

Thanks for the info!

I gave my girlfriend a bokeh of orchids. She liked them because they were pleasingly soft. ;-)

-PB

[Andrew O'Neill]

Boke is from the Japanese word boketeru which means stupid, or senile. Someone's thinking is not clear or just plain wacked. So in photography, boke refers to the out of focus or "unclear" areas.
I know this word very well as my wife says "boketeru" to me all the time. It's pronounced bo-ke, not bo-kay.

[Randy H]

And supposedly, correct usage of "bokeh" helps to enhance the photo, and draw the eye to the more imprtant details of the picture. Following is a link to an "art" page that made the use of bokeh a little more "comprehensible" (for me anyways)
While the site deals more with "colour" combinations, it goes into detail about using peripheral "noise" to enhance an image. Good reading if you go through it all.
http://webexhibits.org/colorart/index.html

[roteague]

And supposedly, correct usage of "bokeh" helps to enhance the photo, and draw the eye to the more imprtant details of the picture. Following is a link to an "art" page that made the use of bokeh a little more "comprehensible" (for me anyways)

I saw a guy at the office a week or so ago, taking pictures with a little digital P&S using the LCD. I asked him why he wasn't using the viewfinder, and he told me he was interested in the "bokeh", and couldn't see it any other way. I about fell over laughing.

[Randy H]

did you ask him if the "bokeh" was that little wreath of smoke that curls off the end of the joint? Or is it the colours you can hear after lhe microdots?

[roteague]

did you ask him if the "bokeh" was that little wreath of smoke that curls off the end of the joint? Or is it the colours you can hear after lhe microdots?

Hmm..... didn't think about that.

I just asked him if he actually knew what bokeh was, or was it something he heard on some internet group - he just gave me a smart ass answer, about how long he had been taking pictures.

[nelsonfotodotcom]

Panchro; the following are 35mm frames, an 85/2 on a Nikon F4s. While not LF, the bokeh is quite evident with this lens. The 85/2 Nikkor makes some very nice bokeh, in my opinion.