That crazy thing called 'Bokeh'!!!

In photography, bokeh is the blur, or the aesthetic quality of the blur,in out-of-focus areas of an image, or "the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light." Differences in lens aberrations and aperture shape cause some lens  designs to blur the image in a way that is pleasing to the eye, while others produce blurring that is unpleasant or distracting— "good" or "bad" bokeh, respectively. Bokeh occurs for parts of the scene that lie outside the depth of field. Photographers sometimes deliberately use a shallow focus technique to create images with prominent out-of-focus regions. (Source:Wikipedia)

I have become crazy about bokehs ever since I learned what that term means. It is such a beautiful thing and I can go on & on about this wonderful element in photography.Here are a few images that stand out for the way in which the bokeh has been rendered. These are not the best images in terms of composition and I am presenting them here as an example for what a bokeh means.

How to: One of the easiest ways to create an image with a wonderful looking bokeh is to shoot with a wide open aperture. I have used the 50mm prime lens with aperture set at f1.8 to get this effect. A wide open aperture, a nearby object as the primary subject and light (Or water) at a reasonable distance of 1 meter would give you the perfect bokeh. I am yet to experiment with multi-colored artificial light bokehs but trust me when I say those days are not far!!!

Landscape Photography -- Tips & Tricks (Part #1)

Landscape photography is the supreme test of the photographer; and often the supreme disappointment – Ansel Adams

When Ansel Adams, The Master of landscape photography, talks about landscape photography in this fashion, it makes sense for all of us to take care of some basic aspects when taking landscape photos. Thankfully, taking care of a few aspects would make sure that the photos that we take are visually pleasing and compositionally brilliant. In the coming articles, we will look at these techniques to take small but significant steps towards becoming better landscape photographers.

Tip #1: Scout the spot for different angles

Our first instinct when we come across a picturesque location would be to start shooting without actually looking around for the perfect angle & composition. We would be better off if we can hold off our instincts for sometime to find an ideal location; a location where we can use the angle of light, patterns or textures, lines or curves for making our composition even better.

Tip #2: Make use of the golden hour

Early mornings (½ hour before sunrise & 1 hour after sunrise) and late evenings (1 hour before & ½ hour after) are the best times to capture the mood of the place. The light is not too harsh and offers great play of lights to be captured.

Tip #3: Always use a polarizer

Polarizers help in cutting down reflections and enhancing the colors. Sky colors are darkened and dark skies offer a great background for landscape shots. The usage of a polarizer filter is different from the other filters and the important point is that it needs to rotated, the frame checked for color enhancement and then the picture clicked. Not rotating the filter would leave the possibility of getting enhanced colors entirely to chance and not choice!

Tip #4: Carry a tripod around

The pains of carrying a tripod will vanish the moment you capture a stunning picture which would have been impossible to take without a tripod at hand. It is not only useful for taking photos without shake but also to expand the creative possibilities like slow shutter speed shots, panoramic shots or multiple exposure shots that are used in generating vibrant looking HDR’s.

Starburst -- How to?

Even though there is Photoshop to give us a perfect starburst effect for light sources, one of the chance discoveries that I made when shooting against the sun is that we get the same star burst effect when we have a smaller aperture value. An aperture value of F11 or above somehow always gives me a star burst effect. Given below is one such photo where I got a decent star burst effect with the above technique. If there are other ways, please let me know and I would be greatly interested in trying.