Bokeh

About This Group

Bokeh (derived from Japanese bokeaji ボケ味, “blur”) is a photographic term referring to the appearance of out-of-focus areas in an image produced by a camera lens using a shallow depth of field. (from the Wikipedia description) We are a group for people who love and appreciate beautiful Bokeh.

Subjective determination of inclusion in this Bokeh group, is not necessarily the same criteria used in every Bokeh group or by other Bokeh “experts”.

Some definitions of Bokeh revolve around a stricter blurring of points of light based on lens aberration, but for the purposes of our group, the following are our main criteria.

Things we will go by in determining if an image is right for the group:

1. The image has to have an out of focus (blur) area.
2. There can be no sharp edges in the blur area.
3. Is the background pleasing and does it add to (and not distract from) the overall image?
4. Points of light that are blurred in an image will not be the entire deciding factor on if an image will be included or not. If the background is distracting, the image will not be accepted. The image will still need to have the other qualities that we are looking for. Some points of light in the background may actually be distracting and could cause the image to be rejected.
5. Work is not accepted purely for complying with the above points, but is also based on personal taste and interpretation. We are looking for that something special you can’t define. Thank you for understanding. We hope you enjoy the group gallery.

Something else to keep in mind: the background should not draw your attention away from the focus area. If something in the unfocused area takes your attention away from the focused area the image will not be included.

Some examples of this could be sticks, blades of grass, structures, trees, etc. that are too in focus (or sharp) and draw your attention away from the focal point.

We also do not accept heavily manipulated or textured images as we want to see the natural bokeh in an image.

We hope this helps to clarify what we are looking for in our Bokeh images. Please do not take any rejection personally!! In many many cases we love the image but unfortunately it does not fit in with our group criteria so it was not accepted. This does not mean that the image was bad or that we did not like it.

If you need to ask a question to one of the hosts, please either post a message in our forums, which are checked daily, or send a bmail to Lance or Angela.

See the group rules and join this group here