{"id":30658,"date":"2015-04-11T05:49:55","date_gmt":"2015-04-11T11:49:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=30658"},"modified":"2015-04-11T05:56:41","modified_gmt":"2015-04-11T11:56:41","slug":"wispy-willet-and-the-effects-of-bokeh-on-an-image","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2015\/04\/11\/wispy-willet-and-the-effects-of-bokeh-on-an-image\/","title":{"rendered":"Wispy Willet (and the effects of bokeh on an image)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The background bokeh of an image can have a huge impact on the overall aesthetic quality of an image.<\/p>\n

One definition of bokeh is “the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light”.\u00a0It has also been defined as “the aesthetic quality of the blur produced in the out-of-focus parts of an image produced by a particular lens”.\u00a0Bokeh occurs in\u00a0portions of the image that lie outside the depth of field. The quality of the bokeh is largely a function of lens design (number and shape of blades in the aperture for example)\u00a0so some lenses\u00a0produce blurring that tends to be distracting, harsh\u00a0or unpleasant – “bad bokeh”, while others produce bokeh that is more pleasing to the eye.<\/p>\n

Bokeh is particularly important to bird and nature photographers because of their tendency to use long telephoto lenses for wild and shy subjects.\u00a0Because these types of lenses produce shallow depth of field a significant portion of\u00a0an image\u00a0taken by them are\u00a0typically out-of-focus.<\/p>\n

The Canon 500 f\/4 lens\u00a0is known for its smooth, pleasant bokeh and I’ve been the recipient of its pleasing backgrounds for years from both the older and the new versions of that lens.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"willet1\/1600, f\/6.3, ISO 640, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS\u00a0USM, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

This image is an example.\u00a0I photographed this Willet 10 months ago on Antelope\u00a0Island as it looked over a mix of green and dead foliage in the background from\u00a0an elevated rock perch. I really like how the lens rendered the background elements, from the extremely out of focus areas at top to the somewhat sharper green and brown vegetation at lower left. It gives the image a\u00a0wispy,\u00a0almost ephemeral\u00a0quality that appeals to me. I often see\u00a0that same quality in the images taken with my newer version of that lens, the Canon\u00a0EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM.<\/p>\n

Canon isn’t the only manufacturer\u00a0to make telephoto lenses with pleasing bokeh and to further complicate matters evaluating bokeh is a subjective endeavor that to some degree depends on taste. But I encourage budding nature photographers to pay attention to your depth-of-field and to the resulting bokeh produced by your lenses and the settings you choose.<\/p>\n

Doing so can make a significant positive\u00a0difference in your photography.<\/p>\n

Ron<\/p>\n

PS – Speaking of Willets,\u00a0a note to local birders and photographers. The Willets have finally\u00a0arrived on Antelope Island!\u00a0Yesterday morning I saw about a half-dozen of them in flight and perched on various rocks and bushes.\u00a0I never did get any photos of them but I’ll sure be trying in the near future…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The background bokeh of an image can have a huge impact on the overall aesthetic quality of an image.<\/p>\n

Continue reading<\/span><\/i><\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30659,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3,6,334,343],"tags":[31,634,59,1955,69,810,327],"class_list":["post-30658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island","category-bird-photography-methods","category-birds","category-willets","tag-antelope-island-2","tag-background","tag-bokeh","tag-canon-ef500mm-f4l-is-ii-usm-lens","tag-canon-ef500mm-f4l-is-usm-lens","tag-tringa-semipalmata","tag-willet"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/willet-7490-ron-dudley.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1zzJh-7Yu","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30658\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}