The Bokeh Misconception
Derek Smith • 21 August 2024
Portrait
A photo of the author taken by Heather Hayes
Face of a lizard
A lizard pictured on rocks at f/7.1 by Derek Smith
A butterfly
An out of focus butterfly by Derek Smith
Ilkley Moor
The Cow and Calf rocks on Ilkley Moor by Derek Smith
Many photographers think that the only way to isolate subjects within a scene, especially in portraiture is to buy, and use a f/1.4 aperture lens, there are even f/1.2, and f/0.95 lenses available.
When photographers discuss having a blurred background to images, to create subject isolation as a compositional aid, they are talking about the depth of field produced by a specific lens / camera combination.
Depth of field, and therefore isolating a subject within an image is primarily obtained by the closeness to the subject, and distance from the subject to the background. The aperture setting, and also the size of the camera sensor all play a part in this.
I use an app on my mobile phone called “PhotoPills”, this is a very informative, and invaluable app for photographers. The “PhotoPills” app gives information about sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset times based on your location, exposure value calculator, field of view calculator. The "PhotoPills" depth of field (DoF) calculator to enables a photographer to determine the depth of field for his camera, and lens combination.
Mastering aperture priority mode on your camera is a key skill to learn, often it’s a matter of choosing the correct aperture for each situation. In this photo of yours truly, taken by my young lady in a heritage railway carriage, I’ve deliberately set the aperture at f/2 on the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 lens, before handing the camera to her, and you can see with the sharp focus on my eyes, my clothes, and the backrest of the train seat are blurred, this is a deliberate portrait rather than a contextual view of me sitting in a railway carriage, for a contextual view f/5.6 could have been selected, if an f/1.4 aperture had been chosen my ears, and nose would also have started to blur.
Insects, and small mammals / reptiles are notoriously difficult to select the correct aperture (sometimes termed “f stop”) for depth of field, and therefore sharpness over the whole of the creature. How many times has a judge commented on an insect photo about the wings, or tail being out focus? For this lizard photo I selected f/7.1, (more by accident than design) on a 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, the focus on the eye is perfect, the foreground, and background rocks are defocused, in this situation f/5.6 or even an f/6.3 aperture may not have given the correct sharpness on the reptile.
This butterfly photo is a complete failure, a grab shot, taken at f/5.6, on the 70-300mm telephoto lens, I’ve got one wing in focus!! A choice of f/7.1 may have improved the focus across the scene.
For landscape photographers, choosing the correct aperture to achieve foreground to background sharpness is important. Many landscape photographers suggest setting the aperture somewhere between f/8 to f/16 and focusing a third of the way into the scene. In this scene of the Cow and Calf rocks on Ilkley Moor, I’ve chosen f/11 and deliberately focused on the foreground rock to capture the engraved graffiti, this is a contextual scene, with the heather, and Cow and Calf rocks acceptable, rather than “tack sharp”.
Remember failure in photography should assist us to learn, rather than discourage us from taking great photographs. Get out there with your camera and enjoy this wonderful hobby.
Louth Photographic Society
Last night our members enjoyed a visit to the Swaby valley nature reserve. We crossed over two fields from South Thoresby, then followed the course of the Swaby Beck chalk stream through the valley, the public footpath was bounded by dense vegetation that hindered our progress at times. There was plenty to see around the reserve, myriad butterflies flitted around in a very lively manner, making for difficult photography, I spotted several small grasshoppers, and soldier beetles in the long grass, I tried to photograph a ladybird, but it was gone by the time I focussed on the creature. It was a very enjoyable evening, with good friendly company, and our camera skills were needed for the macro photography, these are a few of my photos from the evening.
Good Morning All Last week's outing was re-scheduled due to a clash with a certain world cup match, the good news was a victory for England, however we intend to still hold the outing on Wednesday 22 nd July. I did go to the Festival of Flight at the Shuttleworth collection, Old Warden last weekend. It was too windy for some of the old Biplanes, but we were treated to a four-and-a-half-hour display featuring many planes that I had never seen fly before. The De Havilland Comet was built to compete in the 1934 race from Britain to Australia, only three were built and it's good to see it flying, the aircraft design was quite advanced for 1934. This week, Wednesday 8th July, we have another camera club outing to the Swaby Valley, meeting at 6pm. Swaby is just off the A16 heading from Louth to Skegness. Regards Graham
Last night’s Louth Photographic Societies outing to Kirkby gravel pits nature reserve was cancelled as some members preferred to watch some sporting gentleman by the name of Harry Kane. (Congratulations to the England team) The reserve is small, and simply laid out, a public footpath leads along a tree lined avenue to the river Bain at the back of the reserve. Historic sand and gravel extraction has left a large lake in the centre of the reserve, several ducks and waterfowl inhabit the lake and there is a bird hide on the shoreline. Returning to the road, there is a path running parallel to the road bounded by a hedge, insects of various types can be found in this area, damselflies, butterflies, and hover-flies are often prolific. Our outing to Kirkby Gravel pits is now scheduled for Wednesday 22nd July. Parking is on the verge by the roadside. Kirkby Gravel pits are fairly close to where I live, and it’s reserve that I often visit, these are some photos from a visit in July last year.
Good morning, All, Last week at the club we had our monthly print competition, Trees and Open. There was a very good entry with a high standard of photography on show. Tony Gaskins was first in the Open and I managed a first in the trees, all the results are on our website and there is also a blog on the evening. This week, Wednesday 1st July, we are having an outing to Kirkby Gravel Pits, if we meet at 6.30 at the reserve, though you can arrive earlier as there are usually dragonflies etc around the entrance. If we walk straight ahead first, then anyone who arrives late can find us. I have struggled to find a map, but you can see the location on the Lincolnshire wildlife Trust website. Kirkby Grave Pits is also a good reserve for birds. Tattershall Road 1 mile south of Kirkby-on-Bain Woodhall Spa Nearest postcode LN10 6YN. Please note - postcodes are for the nearest registered address as we are unable to get postcodes for nature reserves.
A print competition was held last night with the categories of "Trees" as the subject, and "Open". Our judge for the evening was Gail Wrigg from Barton who did an expert job. The first category to be judged was the "Open" with the high standard of prints making the choice of top placement difficult, and Gail held back 9 prints for further evaluation. There were some chuckles from members around one of Richard Hildred's prints of wooden electricity poles titled "In my previous life I used to be one of them" an "in" joke from Richard, which totally baffled Gail. After the break Gail judged the "Trees" category, with 7 prints held back this time for awarding of higher marks, the beautiful colours of some trees, especially the autumnal images contrasting with the stunning monochrome infrared prints from Richard Hildred. It was a great evening, with excellent prints on display, and the website Competition page has been updated with the full results.
Good Morning All Last week we visited the nature reserves at Fir Hill quarry and Muckton wood. I have written a blog report on the evening which is on our website. You can always try something a little different like I did using camera movement. This week, Wednesday 24th June, a print competition will be held, with the categories of "Trees" and "Open" and is to be judged by Gail Wrigg. The following week we have an outing to Kirkby Gravel pits. If you want advice on camera settings etc the outings are the perfect opportunity to ask other members while we all have our cameras. Regards Graham
Each year Louth Photographic Society begins a new project, one photo taken each month on a specific subject, that's 12 photos presented on "Project Night" in January. Last year the subject was "Prime Time" one photo each month taken with the same fixed focal length lens. This year the subject is water, the subject sounds easy enough, and I've completed 5 photos already, but I'm struggling a little with a photo for June. I'm currently on holiday in Corfu, an island surrounded by water which should be easy, but I'm yet to find the "definitive" photo for the project. These are my photos so far this month: Best regards Derek
Good Evening All
Summer is here at last, maybe?
Last night a few of our members had an outing to Old Bolingbroke village. Initially visiting the Lincolnshire Wildlife Reserve of Sow Dale, off Spilsby Hill at the village entrance, I was a little hesitant at first at entering the reserve because of the grazing cattle. When the cattle herd moved up the hill we climbed over the stile and entered the reserve, as we began to take some photos around the reserve though, the herd returned, but seemed quite docile. Later in the evening we moved on to Bolingbroke castle, and took several photos of the castle, fauna, and flora. It was a lovely evening, good to get out with cameras, and socialise with others.
