How to Obtain Maximum Bokeh
In photography, the term bokeh represents the magical out-of-focus blur that makes it look like the subject is isolated from the background. It is visually appealing for us to see a photograph with a soft, creamy and beautiful background. It helps concentrate our eyes on a single area and creates a sense of depth and dimension on an otherwise flat-looking image.
Let me share a few tips on how you could obtain maximum bokeh from your camera setup.
1) Use a large aperture
Bokeh is not created by the camera - it is your lens and its optics that are responsible for rendering the out-of-focus areas. Therefore, the first thing you should do is set your lens aperture to its lowest value, also known as "maximum aperture". You can do this by changing your camera mode to "Aperture Priority" and setting the "f" number to the lowest value your camera will permit. On Nikon DSLR cameras, this is typically done by rotating the front dial towards the left (counter-clockwise).
What is EXIF Data?
What is EXIF Data and how do you use it? This article is about the Exchangeable Image File Format (EXIF) and the methods of reading EXIF Data from photographs.
Back in the film days, photographers were forced to carry a pen and a notepad with them to record important information such as shutter speed, aperture and date. They would then use this information in the lab, going through one picture at a time, hoping that what they wrote actually corresponds to the right image. It was a very painful process, especially for newbies that wanted to understand what they did wrong when an image didn't come out right. Nowadays, every modern digital camera has the capability to record this information, along with many other camera settings, right into the photographs. These settings can then be later used to organize photographs, perform searches and provide vital information to photographers about the way a particular photograph was captured. This stored data is called "EXIF Data" and it is comprised of a range of settings such as ISO speed, shutter speed, aperture, white balance, camera model and make, date and time, lens type, focal length and much more.
Focal length comparison on Nikon DX (1.5 crop factor) cameras
This test shows focal length comparison on a 1.5 crop factor camera (all Nikon DX cameras) from 12mm to 500mm. All images were taken on Nikon D300 with ISO 200, f/10. The focal lengths are not 100% accurate because of different lens sizes and mounts (when short lenses such as the 50mm f/1.4 were used, the camera was mounted on the tripod, while zoom lenses had to be mounted via lens collars). The tripod was never moved (just slightly re-adjusted to focus on the top-left portion of the blue ornament). The 420 and 500mm shots are a little soft because of slight vibration and use of a teleconverter.
The shots were taken indoors because it was too cold outside :)
Continue reading 'Focal length comparison on Nikon DX (1.5 crop factor) cameras'
