I love bokeh. If I ever get a fancy SLR camera, I hope to create masterpieces full of bokeh. If you have not heard of bokeh, here is a quick definition I found at dictionary.com:
Bokeh: A Japanese term for the subjective aesthetic quality of out-of-focus areas of a photographic image.
If you still don't know what it is, do a quick search in google images for "Bokeh" or "Christmas Bokeh." Go ahead...I'll wait for you :-)
...See? It's really cool! Christmas lights can produce some incredible bokeh! Ideally, I would love to take a picture of something in the foreground in focus in front of the Christmas tree, while the tree-lights are all out-of-focus and bokeh-y. (Totally not a word, I know).
But I don't know how to do that with my little Polaroid Point and Shoot. However, today as I was trying to take a picture I inadvertently discovered that this little baby CAN, in fact, produce some wicked bokeh.
...But I think that's just because the zoom is broken. I can zoom in on something just fine, but when I zoom out, everything goes out-of focus. Hence my camera's new ability to produce bokeh-tastic pictures. I did have my camera set to aperture priority, but I don't know if that made any difference or not. Anyway, here are some of the shots I got. To some it just may look like an out-of-focus picture. But to me it is something beautiful and Christmasy :-)
See how they just look like perfect spheres of light overlapping one another? I love that!The more out-of-focus, the bigger the spheres become:
When I take my contacts out, that's just about what the tree looks like to me :-P
Here is my favorite one that I took of our upstairs tree with the colored lights
When I take my contacts out, that's just about what the tree looks like to me :-PHere is my favorite one that I took of our upstairs tree with the colored lights
I just got really excited when I realized my broken camera could do this! I guess it is still good for something!
Anyway, the reason I was taking pictures is because my grandpa stopped at my house today to drop off some poinsettias! I put them in the attic, and it feels even more festive up there now. I have never had poinsettias in my house before.
...and he dropped off the cutest Christmas card ever made! Sorry it's so dark in the picture above and below...I was too worried about how the lights looked in the background to pay attention to the subject of the photo :-) What can I say, it's an obsession.
Anyway, the reason I was taking pictures is because my grandpa stopped at my house today to drop off some poinsettias! I put them in the attic, and it feels even more festive up there now. I have never had poinsettias in my house before.
...and he dropped off the cutest Christmas card ever made! Sorry it's so dark in the picture above and below...I was too worried about how the lights looked in the background to pay attention to the subject of the photo :-) What can I say, it's an obsession.
May your Christmas be filled with lots of bokeh beauty.
These pictures look so cool! I've never heard of this before, but I love how it turns out with the Christmas lights.
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of Bokeh before this week, but you are the third blog I have about it on this week. haha ;) Love it!
ReplyDeleteThey actually make bokah filters for SLR cameras! Some of the bokah filters transform the pinpricks of light into different miniature shapes, like hearts or stars. But I think it's sort of like cheating... I've produced the same effect just by moving the camera (I got hearts and music notes once!) But I suppose it could be cool if you had an in-focus subject in the foreground and wanted shaped bokah in the background? In any case, I LOVE the bokah effect! :)
ReplyDeleteWow, those photos look so neat!!! :-)
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