Bokeh Foto Fun with My Family

Dec 4, 20212 min read

Updated: Feb 16, 2022

This past weekend I had s little foto fun with my brother and his family. We took a little foto walk around downtown Venice and checked out the lights. They were kind enough to be my models for the evening. I think they got bored at the end, but that could have been the hunger talking. 🥴

Downtown areas along Main St. are covered in a fantastic spectacle of light and color during the holidays. You can take advantage of these displays with the right equipment and camera techniques. Using a tripod will increase the ability to create sharper images and free you up to work with your composition. Shoot the same area with multiple perspectives - standard, low, high, wide-angle, and telephoto. This time during the holidays, it's a great time to break out the camera gear and play with bokeh.

The Bokeh effect in these photos is the bright circles in the image's out-of-focus areas. It is more noticeable with bigger apertures - like f/2.8, f/1.8, or f/1.4. For a more dramatic look, make sure the background is about 1.5x further from the subject than you are.

Essential Tips: Be aware of distance! The further bokeh appears smaller when further away from the lens. Try using a lens with at least 135mm effective focal length and keep your subject 5 to 7 feet in front of you. The bokeh background should be about 10 to 15 feet from the subject. Experiment with distance to see what kind of bokeh you can create!