Lenses and Their Bokeh
Let’s look at different lenses and their bokeh
I have a confession to make. I’ve always been aware of bokeh–as part of the background or as the subject, itself–but I’ve become really interested in bokeh and achieving that pleasant bokeh every photographer seems to be talking about especially after buying my Sigma 105mm f/1.4 for Nikon. So, while in a previous post I briefly mentioned the bokeh created by the bokeh master, a.k.a. Sigma 105mm f/1.4, here I’d like to continue the conversation and look at different lenses and their bokeh.
To start with, here’s the same subject (slightly different background, crop and vantage point, I know) photographed with the Sigma 105mm f1.4 (left) and photographed with the Lensbaby Velvet 56mm (right):
Here’s another example: #tbt images of flowers captured with my iPhone and with my Nikon D300
Tulip (left) photographed with my iPhone 7 Plus in Portrait mode, and bud (right) photographed with my Nikon camera. The image on the right was taken with my Nikon D300, most likely with the 17-55mm f/2.8 lens.
Then there’s the Lensbaby (composer) bokeh achieved with the help of creative aperture rings: a heart-shaped aperture ring to capture the Tribute Lights image (left) and a star-shaped aperture ring to capture the Bethesda Angel image (right).
I know, these are only a few examples. That said, what is it about bokeh that makes it so…desired? And is an image always about its bokeh? That depends on the particular image, as well as what we, as photographers, want to achieve or the visual story we want to tell through that image. Meanwhile, the bokeh journey continues….
As always, thanks for stopping by,
Alina Oswald 