Your photo will be much better off with a deeper depth of field and less bokeh versus an out of focus subject. Start practicing with a higher f-stop and work your way down. Standing physically closer to your subject, or zooming in, will also increase your bokeh and make your subject pop off the background more.īefore we get to the rest of the tips, here’s a little cheat sheet of the main tips above for you to Pin or Share on Facebook.īelow are the remaining tips and important things to keep in mind.Ĭhoose your own focal point and watch to be sure you are getting your subject in focus since shooting wide open leaves you with a very narrow depth of field and can be a challenge to nail focus. Isolate your subject more by moving closer. You’ll see more extreme bokeh with a 135mm lens than you would a 35mm focal length because of the decreased depth of field. The farther they are away from the background, the more blur and the more they will “pop” off of the background. Keep as much distance between the background and the subject as possible. This will need to increase for groups of more than one subject (see notes below for groups and keeping them in focus). I most often shoot at f/1.4 or f/1.2 for portraits with one subject. Use a wide aperture (a low f-stop number f/2 or lower). Increase the quality of your bokeh with four main factors (scroll for the remaining tips and example images): The following tips will help you create the important foundation for that dreamy, artistic look.

But we before we get to that final step with editing you’ll want to shoot with intention to capture that artistic look you are after. Post processing is a vital step in achieving that professional, beautifully finished photo. Of course, editing and Photoshop Actions can help enhance bokeh – from painting on light and color, adding dimension and drama, to actually intensifying the amount of blur in your background. You can see the bokeh in both the background and the foreground of this image shot with a Canon 100mm 2.8 macro lens at ISO 320, f2.8, 1/100 second. But how do you achieve that beautiful, creamy bokeh? The subjects seem to be practically jumping off a velvety, creamy background and make viewers feel they could just reach out and touch them. It can be the difference between a ho-hum photo and one where the subject almost seems 3D. There is some debate over what the definition is and what “good bokeh” really consists of, but in most basic terms it is the pleasing quality of the out-of-focus areas in a photo (most notably the background, but can also be the foreground).

Bokeh is a photographic term derived from the Japanese “boke” – which means “blur” or “haze”). The images have that beautiful, creamy, smooth bokeh. I am often asked about how a subject appears to almost pop off the background of a photo. 14 Tips to Get Better, More Beautiful Bokeh – by Paint the Moon Photoshop Actions

Photography bokeh settings