How to create great Bokah

Currently have a 24-105 and a 10-22. Selling my 75-300 IS to generate cash for either the 50 1.4 or 85 1.8. Interested in a prime due to speed (low light) and great bokeh.

Here's my question: How does one create great bokeh? What are the key factors that influence the quality of the background blur? I'm sure his has been discussed many times over, but trying to solicit some thoughts from more experienced photographers than I.

Appreciate your tips on this one...

Finally, of the two lenses I am contemplating, does one stand out over the other in terms of creamy bokeh? Thx.

its bokeh not bokah. lol. bokah sounds soooo funny though. sry mate.

to answer your question, open up your aperture and zoom in your 24-105 then switch to MF and focus on your subject.

The 50 f/1.4 has some pretty lousy bokeh. Not sure about the 85 f/1.8. I would say the 24-105L has just has better bokeh than the 50 f/1.4

Good bokeh is created by optical design, the shape of the aperture diaphragm, and its subjective evaluation is influenced by viewer preference and the diffusion of the background (whether due to telephoto or DOF effects)

You can't create bokeh...it's the character of the lens...and it varies with the lens...you can create out of focus background/foreground with a wide aperture and getting close to the subject, but bokeh is the nature of the out of focus areas and it's each lens's way of portraying it....

Bokah is emphasized by wider apertures. Zooming in on something from far away makes it more prominent.

the easiest way to get great bokeh is to get the 135L...

Watch the movie "Pelham 1 2 3" and pay attention to the focus ramping in the scenes where the people are operating the computers and whatnot that control the subway - some amazingly great bokeh - I was wondering if that is all optical or also computer generated - toooo smooth to be "real"!

Nikon's 50 f/1.4 is better for bokeh than the Canon counterpart - it's called the "cream machine" for a good reason! 105 @ f/4 should be pretty good if your subject is filling the frame most of the way, but you really need 70 + mm and 2.8 or larger aperture to get anything worth writing home about. 50 is too short and the aperture blades create a busy and funky bokeh. 50 f/1.2 is just too much money. I would try the 85 f/1.8 and see how that does - I hear great things!

I don`t know, but I find the Sigma has a distinct creamy bokeh for half the price of an L lenses.

Just keep in mind the fact that the further the subject is to its background, the more diffused the background gets.

For instance, it would be easy to melt away the backgroud with my 200L, if I shoot my subject at close distance and the background is relatively far away.

Examples:

nicksan

Great examples. I agree a longer lens is the way to go. The 70-200 2.8 IS is known to have great Bokeh. It has to due with having more aperture blades than most.

TheMirrorMan wrote in post #9514799
nicksan

Great examples. I agree a longer lens is the way to go. The 70-200 2.8 IS is known to have great Bokeh. It has to due with having more aperture blades than most.

I think aperture blades come into play with the shape of OOF highlights.

For instance, these were shot with the 135L.

The amount of background blur will be determined by, focal length, distance to subject, distance to background, and aperture.

For more BG blur, you want a longer lens, closer distance to subject, farther distance to background, and faster aperture.

Bokeh isn't tangible,,it can't be measured.. Bokeh is subjective and will be different from lens to lens and light conditions.. Don't confuse Bokeh with Depth of Field,,two entirely different things..

Open your lens right up, zoom in and get near your subject.. Check out the out of focus areas behind (and in front) of the subject and see what you like..

As others have said, you can obtain significant background blur by opening the aperture and keeping the subject away from the background. A longer lens will also help.

The quality of the blur will depend on the lens (among other things) and the 135L ios my bokeh lens . The 50/1.4 is great; although the quality of the blur is not best, the FL is very handy on both FF and 1.6x.

Most lenses will have nice smooth bokeh when used wide open as the aperture is either not in play at all, or having very little impact. Although it really depends on a lot of other factors of lens design. Some lens can be great with things like lights, but not great at smoothing out lines so out of focus things like gates can turn into double lines.

You can get bokeh with just about any lens. How about a €200 Sigma 70-300 APO DG Macro, zoomed in, stopped down to f/6.3 with some background separation, although I'm sure the 9 blade aperture helps.