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40 Beautiful Examples of Bokeh Photography
I’m sure most of you have heard of the term bokeh. Basically it is referring to the aesthetic quality of the blur produced from a shot with shallow depth of field. Determining factors of bokeh are things like lens aberrations and shape of lens aperture.
Bokeh is a very subjective thing. Its hard to say what is “good” bokeh and what is “bad”. In my opinion anything that is less distracting and adds something to the image would be considered good and anything distracting or confusing to the image would be considered bad. Based on that I have gathered some examples of what I think is beautiful bokeh photography.
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63 Comments
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whaly said:
As a newbie, thanks, now I know what is a Bokeh !
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TF28 said:
Very much enjoyed this compilation. Thanks!
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Brad C said:
Yeah, very nice collection of photos.
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Sasha Muradali said:
Excellent post!
I love bokeh, thanks for putting this together. So going to check out those artist on DA! :) -
MainlineMom said:
Soooo beautiful! I am a bokeh addict!
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Jay Dadivas said:
I like it.. Thanks so much…
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Mary Elizabeth said:
Beautiful jobs, well done!!!
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publikaccion said:
lovely shots for sure :-D
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Dee said:
Those are beautiful! Love Bokeh!
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Marcel Bianchi said:
I would like to give you guys my collaboration:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bianchi/24312098/in/photostream/
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Photo Retoucher said:
Creative shots!
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andrewbenardski said:
Beautiful!!! love it!
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Hufsa said:
Those are absolutely incredible, I love ‘em ! :)
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Prabhu.MP said:
Very difficult Photographs to take. Thanx and wishes for the photographers
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Eduardo Trauer said:
Simples e espetacular!!
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Roberti Rivas said:
Nice photos!, i liked so much “embr”, it made me laugh, great work.
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Ashely Adams : Online Printing said:
I am new to this kind of photography…This has been a great introduction for me…I love the use of colors and light…I simply adored the blurring of the background effects; this effect gave a new outlook to the image as a whole…thanks for sharing this post…
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robb said:
wow that cup and spilled blue lights is so cool.
great idea. -
Autonomy said:
This is a great collection – thanks for putting it together! I love the character in embrs photo.
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pat said:
You’re missing this guy:
http://www.flickriver.com/photos/safetylast/popular-interesting/He does bokeh really rather well.
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Amit said:
in bokeh photography we should concentrate more on the subject n the selection of the subject..the more attractive or unusual the subject, it will b more interesting for the viewers to view the pic.. due to the blurred foreground the subject will b focused more..loved the pic AgniMax..
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Pippa said:
Such wonderful images. very cleverly done. thanks for sharing
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blueweb said:
What a amazing! I really love this subject :)
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Anish said:
Amazing….
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Mark B said:
Such beautiful pictures – I really want to learn to master that technique.
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Tim said:
This isn’t “bokeh”. Bokeh is the QUALITY and PROPERTIES of the blur effect. Quit talking about it like bokeh is the effect itself.
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Bill Jones said:
I agree. You did read my second sentence didn’t you? As far as referring to that type of photography as “Bokeh”, I guess I could have put “Really Sweet Looking Shallow Depth of Field Photography”.
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jmleclercq said:
Great Collection !!
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Nikkel said:
Two bokeh I’m proud of :
http://picasaweb.google.com/nikkel/PublicGalleryMisc#5423645628555608466
http://picasaweb.google.com/nikkel/PublicGalleryMisc#5423646688021085186
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Babar said:
wonderful images….keep up the good work
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Brandon said:
clever technique… nice photos
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West Midlands Wedding Photography said:
This is top class photography, very nice colours.
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Kawaljeet Virk said:
SIMPLY AWESOME…….:)
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kimick said:
bokehmuaaah! <3
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Kristy said:
These are LOVELY. do you have a short tutorials for these?
I have the bokehs itself, but how do you put it on via photoshop?
what are the steps you took to insert the bokehs on these photos?
thankssss! -
Angelo Sartore said:
All lovely photos, but, I am amused by the term ‘bokeh’. This is nothing new! Still photographers & motion picture cameramen have been utilising long lenses & wide open apertures for a lo-o-o-o-o-o-o-ng time to create these moods. Out of focus backgrounds & foregrounds can hide many problems with favorable results. In some ways, shallow depth of field can be a by-product of lack of illumination for the shot or just using the available light to light whatever you are photographing.
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Art of Concept said:
Fantastic examples! Great stuff! I’m glad to see ,in some, bokeh made the shot!
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Linda Solan said:
Wonderful photos… so surreal.
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Jexweber said:
Beautyfull pics, let me show you bokeh fireworks photographs http://www.fotonazos.es/2010/09/bokeh-de-fuegos-artificiales-en-fuenlabrada/
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ricardo said:
simple and beautiful!
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Linda Solan said:
how is this done??? a macro lens???
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Bill Jones said:
@Linda
You need to creating a shallow depth of field. Use a low f-stop number – f1.4, f1.8 or f2.8. Faster shutter speeds helps to create nice defined circles. Crank up your ISO if things are to dark.
Also check out http://thejoyoflandscapes.blogspot.com/2010/08/bokeh-for-landscapes-how-to-create.html
Hope this helps.
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Jonathan Owen Photography said:
lovely. Makes me want to try this technique more
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Theo said:
Beautiful collection, great shots!
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Tony said:
I hope to one day grow up and take shots like these.
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kishn said:
how come the photos are so clear?
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FAISAL said:
wow had fun watching
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Maryam Pazouki said:
very nice …
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SAMANEH said:
lovely…
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Julian Heath said:
I thought Bokeh was a spelling mistake! However, it cropped-up too often to be that. Yes, lovely examples of differential focus or bokeh if you prefer but it’s not new; it just has a new posh name!
But yes, good pictures and examples. -
Noorul'Aini said:
beautiful photos……………thank you!!!!!
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John said:
Fantastic collection of photos. Well done. And now I too know what Bokeh is. THANKS
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Rhemzis said:
The title of this compilation is true. Those bokeh shots are indeed inspiring. And I didn’t even know what bokeh is ’til I stumbled upon this site. Thanks!
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KriS said:
Nothing beautiful about any of them. Bokeh is a gimmick form “photographers” with poor compositional skills.
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Vi said:
Kris you probably wont read this, but if you actually looked at some pro’s macro photos, youll see that they take advantage of bokeh, and they don’t have poor composition.
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Kunal said:
Thought this photo could have gone up here as well.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kunal_ghate/6405833481/in/photostream -
ant said:
I love them :))
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Taha said:
I like your collection very much. Thank you for such post.
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Bharati said:
Ethereal –fantasical !!!
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Amazed said:
Awesome!!
Stunning (in my opinion at least)!!
Perhaps, I’ll throw my camera and lenses in the bin, because these are the kind of photos I would to make but haven’t managed to do so ..
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Tim said:
Great pictures. I love doing bokeh pictures with different shaped apertures. I use a Lensbaby with about a dozen different aperture shapes. Very creative and all done in camera.
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johhny said:
Hopefully these photos don’t give people the incorrect impression that Bokeh only refers to turning background lights into circles. Depth of field control using the aperture and/or focal length of the lens creates out of focus areas that are rendered as various amounts of blurriness. The photographer can then use the blur to help achieve the look he or she is after. Nearly all of the above examples are the exact same effect, blurry circles representing distant point light sources, though Bokeh is a term that covers a much wider range of effects. Bokeh really refers to pleasingly rendered blurriness, out-of-focus areas of any kind beyond the depth of field (focused area) of the lens, that rather than detracts from, enhances the image. The “pleasingness” is of course in the eye of the beholder.
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