Bokeh

[LennyBloke]

I've been giving my photography a lot more thought over the past few months, and one area that I've been trying to take note of in particular has been the out of focus areas in front of and behind the main subjects. Most of us are probably aware of the effectiveness of using large apertures on some types of photo, but in a world where we measure things down to an n'th degree it is fascinating (to me at least) that the qualities of different lenses, in their OOF rendering, is so varied.

I found this article an interesting little read, hopefully you will too....

http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.co ... bokeh.html

[Derek897]

Looks like interesting reading. Will have a proper read tonight. Cheers for the link.

[Algi]

The first time I really noticed how good Bokeh looked was at a Cartier Bresson Exhibition at Liverpool University around 1976. It really stopped me in my tracks and oddly it was foreground bokeh not the usual background bokeh. I don't recall ever seeing good foreground bokeh since. I still wish I knew what Leica lens he used.

You can't appreciate what can be seen in the original large exhibition print in a small digital copy because it relies on the weave in the couples clothing. The photo was the Romanian couple in a train. Click on it to see a larger copy.

http://only-romania.com/2012/12/henri-c ... ania-1975/

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[Algi]

There's a very good youtube video on that Romanian site showing how HCB used and held his camera for street photos.

From that video the lens seems to be Leica 40mm Summicron possibly on a CL. Looks to have great foreground bokeh, but messy on distant backgrounds.

Strange thing is that I almost bought a Leica CL + Leica 40mm Summicron at about that time. I had a good look at one inside Dollands, but decided I preferred the 3G instead. Had I known it was what HCB used I would have gone for that in a flash.

The lens can still be bought for about £500 but it's hardly worth it for foreground bokeh alone.

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[Derek897]

A good read. Even a mention of a K1 and 77mm ltd in the comments.

[Smeggypants]

Pentax A50 f/1.2

[LennyBloke]

Cartier Bresson was one of the photographers I studied at college (many years ago), along with Weston, Julia Margaret Cameron, Helmut Newton and Ansel Adams they opened my eyes to the variety of styles in photography. It's amazing how much we can learn from looking at the work of past photographers, and how much inspiration in can bring in trying to emulate them - Those HCB images are on the face of it so ordinary, yet at the same time they are extraordinary