bokeh

Abstract tunnel gate photograph

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A regular building gate made into a mystical tunnel with photography knowledge - Nikon D300 Nikkor 50mm @ f/3.2 ISO 200 1/125thSometimes I like to make photos that offer an impression or a feeling or a dream, rather than producing as realistic a representation of a subject as possible.  The above shot features a metal gate half-opened leading to an open air hallway through a building.  I thought if I focused on the gate using my 50mm lens at a large aperture, the bokeh that composition and settings would produce would make for a very abstract "light at the end of the tunnel" kind of shot.  If I had made this shot look as it did to my eyes, it would have been pretty boring.  Instead, using a few simple photography shooting skills, a more interesting shot was produced that will make any viewer stop and wonder what is in the light at the end of this tunnel?

Free Christmas Tree Ornament Bokeh Background

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Free Christmas tree ornament bokeh background - click to download the full resolution versionJason Collin Photography is offering a free Christmas tree ornament bokeh background to use as a digital background for composite images, as a texture to overlay or simply as a desktop wallpaper.  Click the above image to download the full resolution version.

The above portrait was made outside.  I simply cut out the subject and placed her upon the Christmas tree ornament bokeh background to add a festive holiday look to the photo.  Tell us how you used the background in the comments below.

Autumn Leaves Red & Yellow in Japan 50mm bokeh fine art photography

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Autumn leaves from my Japan archives made in 2008 - Nikon D80 Nikkor 50mm @ f/2 ISO 400 1/250th

Since it is now October 8th and the temperature is still 86F and rising here in Florida, I had to go into my Japan photography archives to find an autumn colors image.  Not that we ever get such color changing in leaves here, but still.  This autumn leaves image is also early in my photography learning, as if you read the exif data and have ever taken one of my photography lessons, I would never use those settings now, especially not ISO 400 when there was still so much shutter speed to play with!

Vivid brown pelican with purple pelican bokeh St. Petersburg

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Brown pelican with friends at The Pier - Nikon D300 Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8D lens @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/1250thIf you do not have any pelican photographs in your portfolio, you can head to The Pier in downtown St. Petersburg at almost anytime of day and have the opportunity to make one of a number of types of brown pelican images.  The male brown pelican was resting on the deck along with a few friends waiting for a tourist to mount the feeding platform and toss out a few free snacks.

Photographing pelicans at The Pier is also a chance to get very close to a very large bird.  They are used to having people around so you can find yourself being able to get close enough to them for it to start to kind of feel weird.  The pelicans will look you in the eye kind of saying, "what?!"

Use a 50mm lens as a macro lens photography tip

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Bokeh created by using a 50mm lens - Nikon D300 Nikkor 50mm @ f/2 ISO 200 1/400th natural lightMacro lenses are expensive.  They are great, but if macro photography is one of many types of photography you like the cost may not be justified, even though macro lenses often can be great for portraits and other things too.  Before you spend $500 or $1,000 or more on a dedicated macro lens, I suggest getting a 50mm lens first (if you do not already have one, which you should!) for about $120 which can be used as a kind of macro lens and see just how much you like macro photography.  If you cannot get enough of it, then investing in a dedicated macro lens would be worth it.  If you are pleased with the results you are getting with the 50mm lens, well then you saved hundreds of dollars and you also get all the other benefits of a 50mm lens.

The flower image above was made with a 50mm f/1.8 lens @ f/2 with no special lighting, just ambient.  Post a link in the comments below to macro images you made with a 50mm lens.

St. Petersburg Florida Motorcycle Photography - do not shoot the whole bike

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Still motorcycle photographed to appear in motion - Nikon D300 Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D @ f/2 ISO 200 1/320th 

I have written before about how I like to photograph motorcycles just for fun.  It often turns out when I come across a motorcycle that I have my Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D lens on my DSLR (or is it that having the 50mm lens on makes me look for motorcycles to shoot?).  For a motorcycle parked on the street it would be pretty hard to fit the entire bike from wheel to wheel in the frame given the contraints of shooting at 50mm and of neighboring objects intruding into the edges of the frame and the background as well.

So my photography tip, that does not just apply to motorcycles but any large or unwieldy subject, is do not photograph the entire subject.  Rather fill the frame through the edges of the frame wiht the view of the subject that appeals to you the most.  It helps to use a 50mm lens and its large aperture for this kind of shot because it is easy then to create bokeh even if the background is close to the subject.  In this way you can still isolate your subject letting the viewer know absolutely what it is they are looking at.  

For this motorcycle shot I did not even worry about getting the entire front wheel in the frame, I definitely wanted the brake rotor in the shot and to compose at an off-level angle to help create a sense of motion with the motorcycle even though it is parked on the side of the road.  

Practice this kind of composition on a motorcycle the next time you see one or on another similar object and be sure and post a link to your results in the comments below.