bokeh or brokeh?

[pumba75]

Is it 'Bokeh' or 'Brokeh' ? And what is it ?

[Dante King]

it is, my bokeh is so good from all my expensive glass I have gone brokeh, cuz i got no money.

Bokeh is a beautiful background out of focus blur. Brokeh is zero in the wallet.

[pumba75]

Hehe - I have seen it on some sites as Brokeh - just thought I would ask the question

[Hellashot]

You can really think of it as "bouquet" as in flowers - a nice arrangement of colors around your point in focus. So we should really be using the english spelling of bouquet instead of from the Japanese bokeh.

[pumba75]

Got it - thanks

[Dchemist]

Here is a decent explanation:

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/bokeh.htm

[mrclark321]

Dante you kill me....LOL :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D


it is, my bokeh is so good from all my expensive glass I have gone brokeh, cuz i got no money.

[In2Photos]

You can really think of it as "bouquet" as in flowers - a nice arrangement of colors around your point in focus. So we should really be using the english spelling of bouquet instead of from the Japanese bokeh.

That is probably the best explanation I have seen for a short answer.

[JennB]

"Bokeh" is what you get with an expensive, prime lens...and "Brokeh" is what you get when you buy that expensive lens! :lol:

[Dante King]

ever hear about day late dollar short? Hell I am running years late.

[busterboy]

Bokeh is a beautiful background out of focus blur.


Example...:D

http://www.timprocter.co.uk/photography/tim.jpg

[In2Photos]

Example...:D

http://www.timprocter.co.uk/photography/tim.jpg

As I said in another thread, that bokeh is so smooth.

[Longwatcher]

Me being picky,

Bokeh is a term used to describe the quality of the out of focus area of a picture.
Bokeh=The quality of the out of focus area in its contribution to a photograph.

It truly can not be used by itself except to ask "how is the Bokeh on your lens?" and must be used with good, bad or nuetral in response.

As in My 85/1.2L has good bokeh (or a pleasing aspect to the out of focus area of the photo that adds to the overall quality of my shot).

My 75-300 IS at 75 wide open has poor (or bad) bokeh (as in the out of focus highlights distract from the overall quality of my otherwise wonderful picture).

An incorrect response would be "My 28-135 IS has bokeh". As this states neither fish nor foul. of course it has bokeh, but is it good or bad? Does the bokeh contribute to the picture or does is distract from the picture.

Just me being picky to avoid people thinking Bokeh="out of focus" or "depth of field".

[SuzyView]

Picky is right!

[PeaPicker]

Boo Coo Beaux Cay is OK
:)

[busterboy]

As I said in another thread, that bokeh is so smooth.

Thank you Mike..:D

[Rokkorfan]

Just as an aside, the shot above is not a great example of bokeh - the background is so far from the subject that the cheapest piece of glass would produce a nicely blurred background.

Good bokeh is evident when you have a background that has the potential to be distracting at the chosen aperture, but instead the colours etc gently flow into each other without lens produced artifacts.

[schmoelzel]

Just as an aside, the shot above is not a great example of bokeh - the background is so far from the subject that the cheapest piece of glass would produce a nicely blurred background.

Good bokeh is evident when you have a background that has the potential to be distracting at the chosen aperture, but instead the colours etc gently flow into each other without lens produced artifacts.

I think you have it correct! Any lens will blur the background buttery smooth when you have it (the background) far behind the subject. What a good lens does is render the specular highlights into one smooth background or in the case of harsher highlights being present, they appear round (# of shutter-blades plays a role). Bokeh is a Japanese term that refers to the QUALITY of the OOF highlights not the amount! I think rdenney on these forums has a very good concise thread on this..........and I believe it is pronounced BO-KEE.

[gale]

...and I believe it is pronounced BO-KEE.
Actually the Japanese pronunciation of that word is bo-ke with the last syllable rhyming with eh. And there probably wasn't originally an H at the end. The H was probably added to reduce confusion since boke looks like it should rhyme with coke. Also, boke, in Japanese, doesn't mean blur or quality or whatever. It is the name of a tree and also means dumb, idiot, ditzy, etc. And no, I wasn't called that as a kid, but I was called Baka a few times which is a similar insult. lol.

My mother is Japanese, I was born in Japan, and lived there for a few years. Many moons ago I took Japanese Culture in school there (on a military base) and learned all about the Japanese syllable system. lol. Shame that I never learned to actually speak the language considering my grandmother lived with us and didn't speak a word of English.

[Tom W]

You can really think of it as "bouquet" as in flowers - a nice arrangement of colors around your point in focus. So we should really be using the english spelling of bouquet instead of from the Japanese bokeh.

Or maybe the phonetic spelling of "bokay" so that there's no mistaking how it should be pronounced.

[AJSJones]

Bouquet is close only if it is pronounced the way it is in the US (beau kay) - in France and many other places, it's pronounced boo-kay.

In any case it should be pronounced with both syllables very short. A closer and more uniform across the Atlantic phonetic guide is the "bo" from bottle and the "ke" from kettle . (Or somehwere between the bo of bottle and the bo of bone, but always a short syllable)

The word used in Japan is actually boke-aji (literally "fuzziness- taste") and it means the quality of the blurry (i.e. OOF ) bits in an image.


Check this out https://photojpn.org/words/len.html

[mizuno]

I've gone brokeh trying to get the perfect bokeh.

[advaitin]

When I was in Japan, in the 1980s and spent much time with Japanese photographers and at camera stores, I never heard the term, although that is not to say that it wasn't in use. The Japanese do take English words and make them their own, even with meanings far removed from the original (just as they did when they adopted Chinese ideography). Personally, since I first heard the term in the last few years, I have often thought that some influential Japanese person showing his pictures of flowers heard some American English-speaking person refer to a nicely out-of-focus background, still life of flowers as "what a lovely bouquet." And, there you have the genesis of it all.

Of course, I could be wrong.

[advaitin]

Oh yeah, to the guy gone "brokeh", you can get all the bokeh you want in Photoshop using the blur filter.

[advaitin]

Bouquet is close only if it is pronounced the way it is in the US (beau kay) - in France and many other places, it's pronounced boo-kay.

In any case it should be pronounced with both syllables very short. A closer and more uniform across the Atlantic phonetic guide is the "bo" from bottle and the "ke" from kettle . (Or somehwere between the bo of bottle and the bo of bone, but always a short syllable)

The word used in Japan is actually boke-aji (literally "fuzziness- taste") and it means the quality of the blurry (i.e. OOF ) bits in an image.


Check this out https://photojpn.org/words/len.html

Now, this sounds like a pretty good explanation. I still wonder which came first, the chicken or the egg?

[Dan-o]

Wow three replies to a 2-1/2 year old thread. :)

[manutd101]

Oh yeah, to the guy gone "brokeh", you can get all the bokeh you want in Photoshop using the blur filter.
Not quite... (and why the regeneration of a two year old thread??)

[yogestee]

Not quite... (and why the regeneration of a two year old thread??)

Some people have too much time on their hands!!

[DAMphyne]

Maybe he did a search for bokeh and this thread came up.
Maybe he didn't look at the date and thought it was current.
Maybe he just wanted to say something.

;):p

[garryknight]

I still wonder which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Next time you're in a restaurant, order both and you'll find out.