Do You Know What Bokeh Is?

taken:
day seventy eight
09.05.12

Who doesn't love a little bokeh? What? Bokeh??? You may know you love it or enjoy the way it looks in a photo, but you may not know what it is. 

It's adapted from a Japanese term, meaning blur or haze. According to Wikipedia the definition of bokeh, in photography, is: the blur, or the aesthetic quality of the blur, in out-of-focus areas of an image. Bokeh has been defined as "the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light".

I've heard bokeh pronounced about 3 different ways, I like to pronounce it: bow-kay. It kind of reminds me of the word 'bouquet' as in a 'bouquet of flowers'. Perfect. Easy to remember, right? And the prettiest way of pronouncing it, in my opinion.

At this point I could get all boring and technical about lenses, aperture and depth of field, but I'm pretty horrible at explaining things technically. I suggest goggling it if you are really interested. You'll find tons of interesting information and in much better detail than I could give you.

What I can tell you is that I love blur, I love out of focus, I love light and sparkles, I LOVE BOKEH! The bokeh above, created by water droplets from an overnight rain, is so bubbly, like twinkling lights, something that only the lens can bring to life. And when captured, it's so so so exciting. It's an addiction, a thrill and I'm always looking for a way to achieve bubbly bokeh!