Practical Artistry: Light & Exposure for Digital Photographers

Selective Focus and Bokeh

Selective Focus and Bokeh

Almost everyone can recognize sharpness of an en-

tire composition as effective. However, edge-to-edge

sharpness is not always attainable. To achieve the ef-

f

ect of edge-to-edge sharpness, all elements of a pho-

t

ograph must be in focus (this happens in landscape

photos at infinity) and everything must be still enough

so there is no motion blur. Complete sharpness, even if

achievable, isn’t creatively right for many photos.

Since many photographs have some blurring and out-

of-focus elements (and this is often a good thing!), it’s

smart to learn to work with selective focus rather than

fighting it. The best technique for enhancing selective

focus is to choose a wide-open aperture for shallow

depth of field, and focus on the most important ele

-

m

ent of your composition.

The term bokeh co

mes from the Japanese word mean-

ing to blur in ink-wash painting. In photography, bokeh

is used to refer to blurring in a selective focus photo-

g

raph. Good bokeh is smooth and pleasing, whereas

bad bokeh produces a jagged and discordant effect.

This may sound subjective, but pretty quickly you can

get to recognize excellent bokeh when you see it in a

photo. Bright, out of focus areas that look like optical

artifacts are examples of bokeh sometimes called

spec-

ular highlights.

The quality of bokeh is largely dependent