Photoforum Photography Challenge 2011-5

[Grandpa]

One of the ways we can bring major impact to our images that is often not fully appreciated, is the ability to draw attention to specific parts of a scene or subject by exploiting the difference between the sharply focused and unfocused areas. This can be especially useful when shooting people or animals against a distracting background that can't be avoided.

Selecting a wide aperture (a smaller f number), you can limit depth of field, or the depth of your scene that is in acceptably sharp focus. This depth of field (DOF) varies with aperture as well as with magnification and subject distance. The closer your subject, the more limited your DOF. Telephoto lenses will limit DOF much more than a wide angle. But choose a large aperture, and provided that there is some distance between the subject and the background, the latter will appear as a pleasing blur, also known as bokeh.


Sigma 150 Macro, F/5.6 and 1/800 at ISO 200

The rules, once again:

1. Only photos taken during the challenge period should be posted.
2. Limit of 2 pictures per post for this topic.
3. Discussion of technique and/or inspiration is encouraged!
4. Remember - this is NOT a contest - no voting, no prizes - other than better photos!

Have fun - take pictures - show me some bokeh!

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[tomibraniste]

hi, i think first picture are more better

[yorkshireman]

Two nice examples Dane

[mindfloodz]

I shot this from a little bit of distance when we went to the park yesterday. They were stepping across stones in a VERY shallow natural spring and my daughter reached out for her Mom's hand for balance. I thought it was the perfect moment for the shot and capitalized on such a moment. I zoomed in as much as possible to get the most out of the bokeh for a pretty shallow depth of field

[rockhead]

Ok so here's the deal I have sleep apnea and my family refers to me as Vader because the cpap machine I have to wear while sleeping. I think it's funny.
My brother recently purchased this fine bobble head example Sorry only had a few minutes but it was still fun

[keai]

Many times, the past is never miss, lost the small photos, yellow telephone recording the voices in the memory gradually noisy appearance gradually blurred, hand, can't catch anything. However, there are always some things remain in our life. The most or clipping
To be continued
www.ebuybus.com

[packman]

I had a chance to go to Balboa Park, So I was able to get a few shots in.

[watergirl]

Here are the results of two experiments I tried. In the first, as suggested by Dane, I used my 55-200 mm and took each shot at a different zoom. Sorry, the last one should have read "55 mm". :P
The camera didn't move, aperture was F5.6. Clearly the more you zoom in, the less depth of field you get and therefore a nicer blur to the background.

Experiment #1



Now I have also been told that the distance between the subject and the background will also affect bokeh. Makes sense, because if they are too close then the background will become more clearly in focus. So this lead to my next experiment. In each of these shots the distance between the flower and the camera was constant, around 34", and the zoom was a constant 200 mm. What changed was the distance between the flower and the background.
I was expecting more blur as they were separated but the black area in the last one surprised me.

Experiment #2

[watergirl]

Here's a couple from the "experimentation" files.

[ariesviiv]

Some kind of Indian drawing, painting, temporary tatooing whatever, which was in the Indian something festival in Auckland.
My friend tried it and I took the chance