The term “bokeh” seems to have evolved from its original definition. Nowadays bokeh refers to out of focus lights and shapes within a picture, rather than the “aesthetic quality of the blur in out-of-focus areas of an image.”

Creating better bokeh photography is not so much skill but creativity. Technically, to make the lights appear out of focus, you just have to switch to manual focusing and twist the focusing ring to the right or left until you have achieved the desired effect, but beautiful bokeh photos are more than just random blurs and orbs. Here are some tips for better bokeh photography:

Foreground and Background

Instead of making the background as nondescript as possible to keep the attention on the subject in the foreground (or vice versa), find a way to connect the two. Make it so that every element in the photo has a role in the overall appeal of the image. If there are out of focus lights in the background, what are they in relation to the foreground? Do they represent another element or are they just random distractions?

I see this technique being used often in wedding photography, when the bride is closer to the camera and the blurry shape groom is in the background. Or when the couple is in focus and the wedding party is blurred in the background.

Light Sources

To produce glowing balls in the background, you need pinpoint light sources such as streetlights, headlights, flashlights, candlelight or any object with a highlighted point. You’ll also need to increase the distance between your subject and the light source/s, or have a wide aperture and decrease the distance between your subject and the camera.

Good and Bad Bokeh

Smooth and creamy bokeh with no harsh edges is generally referred to as “good bokeh.” On the other hand, bokeh with defined edges or backgrounds that aren’t blurry enough are considered “bad bokeh.”

Bokeh is rendered by the lens, not the camera. If you want good quality bokeh, portrait and telephoto lenses generally yield more pleasant-looking bokeh than cheaper zoom lenses.

Textures

Incorporate different textures into your bokeh photos. The easiest way to do this is to focus on the windshield or window of your car. You can spray water or other liquids onto the glass and focus on texture to create a unique effect against the out of focus headlights or streetlights for example.

Aside from incorporating textures into your photos, you can also use your bokeh photos as an overlay to some of your photos. Use it like you would any other stock texture photo.

City-keh

Popular landmarks or tourist attractions have been photographed 348297 times from every conceivable angle and time of day. If you’re tired of that ‘obligatory photo in front of the Eiffel Tower’, try viewing the city or landmark from an out-of-focus perspective.

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Close-up or macro photography is just as much technique as it is luck. That’s what makes it fun and unpredictable. It’s an excellent way to test your skills when faced with a narrow window of opportunity while still leaving room for you to explore your creativity. For tips on how you can improve your macro photography, keep reading. You might pick up something new!

Keep It Steady

• When dealing with moving subjects such as insects, you want to select a relatively high shutter speed because you’ll never know how long you’ll have to shoot. This is why some photographers choose to shoot dead insects instead of live ones.
• Camera shake—the bane of handheld photography. In macro situations of 1x magnification and up, it becomes even more difficult to record sharp images. If you can’t afford to bump up your shutter speed, find a surface you can lean on or just use a tripod.
• Another trick to minimize camera shake is to wear the camera strap around your neck and position your camera so that the strap is taut. You can pull it forward in a 90-degree angle or diagonally. A variation of this tip is to hold the camera with one hand (the right hand, for example) and lightly pull on the strap downwards with your left hand. The “strap trick” adds tension, which helps keep your hands steadier. 

Burst Mode

If you have less-than-optimum lighting conditions and have already maxed out your ISO, your only choice is to keep your camera as steady as possible and hope that at least a few of your shots come out sharp. No photographer is safe from camera shake, but a quick tip is to select Burst Mode in your camera and keep the shutter depressed until your camera has snapped three shots consecutively. I’ve found that the second photo is almost always considerably sharper than the first or the third photo. Of course it varies from person to person, but shooting multiple frames is more likely to yield one sharp image than shooting only two or three frames, all other conditions withstanding.

Manual Focus

When honing in on minute details, take matters into your owns hands by focusing manually instead of relying on your camera’s AF. If you’re shooting at a wide aperture, the depth of field could be very thin. It’s very likely that your camera won’t be able to focus exactly where you want it, so it’s better to master focusing manually in those cases.

Use the Digital Zoom Feature

DSLRs nowadays come with a digital zoom feature that you can use while in Live Preview to ensure that you get that focus exactly where you want it to be. When dealing with extreme close-ups, the slightest of nudges or the faintest breath could ruin your photo.

Just going by what you see in your viewfinder isn’t enough. Taking test shots and zooming in 100 percent works too, but can be more time-consuming. By using the digital zoom feature, you can adjust your focus in real time.

Customize Your Backgrounds

A neat trick for macro photographers is to always have a small binder full of different textures and colors that can act as backdrops to your subject. Simply place the sheet/s behind the subject to change up the look. The smaller the subject, the smaller the backdrop you’ll need.

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