Bokeh

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Lens, F-stop: 3.5

When using a small compact camera in a 'standard' way, most of the time much of the foto is in focus. This is because the sensor of such a camera is small, and mostly, the lens is as well.
With a DSLR, things are very different. Because of the bigger sensor and bigger lenses with a larger aperture, a much shallower 'depth of field' can be created. In other words: a very small part of the image, for instance your subject, can be in focus, while the rest is blurry. This method can be used to draw the viewers attention to the subject. Now, the quality of these out-of-focus areas (especially light points) is described as 'Bokeh'. As you can see in the photo on the right, Hellen is nicely in focus while the Christmas tree is blurry and has become a cool 'Bokeh-tree' in the background :-)
To create a nice bokeh-effect you need a lens with a large aperture, for instance the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II. The bokeh photo's in this blog were made with one of these. A smaller F-number means a larger aperture, or larger 'opening' of the lens, and this results in a shallower depth of field (so more blurry-ness in the background...).

If there is no lens available with a low F-number, you can get the same result (more or less) with a zoom lens. However, in order to get the effect you have to zoom in on your subject that is relatively close to the lens while the background needs to be pretty far away. Using this method you can even get the effect with a simple kitlens.

Christmas tree bokeh filter construction

Bokeh filter

Christmas tree shaped bokeh

The shape of the bokeh is highly dependant on the construction of your lens. However, there is a fairly simple way to influence this. With a black, dark or non translucent piece of paper, a sharp knife and some sticky tape you can make your own bokeh-filter. Just cut out the desired shape from the black paper, for instance a christmas tree. Then fold the paper is such a way that you can use it as a lens cover. Put this cover over your lens and shoot. Truth be told, the resulted image shown here isn't the best photo possible. It was a quick 'n dirty test of the bokeh-filter principle, and for such a small experiment it was a quite successful one. As you can see the bokeh-lights now have the shape of tiny Christmas trees.

On the web, you will find a lot of discussion about what good/poor bokeh really is. I think it's about your personal taste and what you are trying to get. So go ahead and shoot some 'Bokehlicious' photo's!

Info from the Internet

The 'allmighty' Internet, your source for everything you always wanted to know about anything, including photography of course. The search for info probably starts with the big question 'what DSLR is the one for me?', followed by 'ok, I got my basic stuff, what else do I want/need'.

And what about 'I probably know the basics, but I want to do more, much more'. Of course, you could sign up for a course or study (I'm still thinking of doing the basic course at the FotoVakSchool (NL) myself), but there is also so much to learn from the Internet: YouTube, Blogs, FaceBook and all the rest!

I found some pretty interesting stuff that I would like to share with you, starting with one of my favourite YouTube channels:

DigitalRevTV

http://www.youtube.com/user/DigitalRevCom

Often compared to Top Gear's Jeremy Clarkson, Kai Wong presents this YouTube show with a lot of humor (together with Lok C. and Alamby). In this channel you can find equipment reviews (from the latest camera's to the best camera bags, and everything in between), camera-stress-tests (pretty hilarious), what to do on a rainy sunday afternoon, and what happens if a professional photographer has to shoot with a toy camera.
Also, the big question is answered: '5 Reasons why you need a 50 mm lens'. (But actually you don't need a reason, really. Just go and get one now! ;-) )
It's realy very entertaining, but still very informative and educational as well! If you happen to like Top Gear, and are also into photography, this one is a 'must see' I would say :-)


Jeff Cable

http://jeffcable.com/

I while ago, I stumbled upon a youtube video about 'how to make money with photography' which of course sounded very interesting to me! :-) In this video, that lasts more than 1,5 hours, this guy called Jeff Cable tells about his work as a professional photographer. And while doing so, he shares some of his 'secrets' about how to stand out of the crowd as a photographer. Some of these ideas are as simple as they are brilliant! One quote from Jeff in this video really got to me:
"We're historians, not photographers..."
After a bit of further investigation, I learned that Jeff Cable is a professional photographer from San Fransisco that does weddings, bar mizvahs, but also took some amazing images during the Olympics of 2008, 2010 and 2012. On the web you can find several video's, articles, a facebook page and what not about Jeff Cable. But one of the coolest things is his blog (one of his tips from the video, that actually inspired me to start one myself). In this blog he shares his experiences as a photographer. Wether it's a family trip or 'on the job', Jeff always has something interesting to share!


Karl Taylor

http://www.karltaylorphotography.co.uk/

A colleague of mine (thanks Sarah) pointed me out to the website of Karl Taylor. If you register on his website, you get a free mini-course! Every day a new video is unlocked (19 of them). Karl shows you the basics about camera settings, light, filters, flash, photoshop, you name it. From this course I got the idea to buy myself a slingbag when my first camera bag became too small. Also, I purchased a Cokin filter set that fits on all my lenses, also inspired by Karl's videos.
If you like the mini course, there's more from Karl Taylor: He has several great courses on dvd that you can buy from his webshop.


Facebook group: Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 Fan Club

http://www.facebook.com/groups/55481042944/

As an owner of the 'Plastic Fantastic' or 'Nifty Fifty' or just 'Canon EF 50mm f/1.8' lens, I was looking for photo's that fellow owners created. There's plenty of examples to find on the net, and maybe also many that are much better than this one, but still I like it: The Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 Fan Club! You don't get an immense flood of images every day, but there are some really nice photographs in there, some of which are very inspirational.
I sometimes try to re-create some of the gems that I find there, which I find very educational.


Of course, this is a very small selection of what is out there to find. But these are my personal favourites. Hope you like them as well :-)