To Bokeh or not to Bokeh

One of the most important factors that can make or break a good headshot or portrait is the background. Distractions can reduce impact and consequentially mean that the viewer doesn’t respond to the image. In this example you can see just by increasing the bokeh (background blur) any distractions are minimised. especially the door knob!😀

What is Bokeh? Well the term comes from the Japanese word boke (暈け/ボケ), which means “blur” and is the aesthetic quality of the blur produced in out-of-focus parts of an image. Usually that’s the background. In the past having the right aperture setting with a fast lens was the only to get a decent Boekeh but nowadays post processing software does a pretty good job after the fact.