Photography: Studying Bokeh

Hi guys, the photos above are of the same subject/s. Two coffee drinks ordered at a Mary Grace Cafe in Alabang. First one has the foreground in focus while the second one has the background in focus.

When something in the photo is out of focus and is blurry by design, it's called the bokeh effect. This effect can be achieved through different means, either with the right gear or with the right technique, or both.

For the photos above, the lens I used helped me in getting the right amount of bokeh on those photographs. I used a 35mm lens with an aperture widest at 1.7. A longer lens and wider aperture helps in achieving this effect. The wider your aperture is, the shallower your depth of field is and the more blurry other things in the photograph will be if you do not focus on them. The longer the focal length, the more blurry are the things nearer or farther from the subject in focus (distance has to be considered).