Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/07/15
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]David, > With all due respect, I don't think it's the differences in the > out of focus areas that make or break these images. Perhaps so. I want to say that bokeh, like many other image traits, is not additive, but subtractive: good bokeh (like good resolution) will not _make_ an image compelling, but bad bokeh (like bad resolution, contrast or flare) can only distract from an otherwise compelling photo. But it is senseless to divorce any of these traits from the whole. They are all integral to the image. I'm not so sure that the following image: http://members.aol.com/zeissleica/private/Bluebells.jpg ...would or would not have worked if it weren't for the extremely distracting out of focus area in the background. It's futile to speculate, because this image stands on its own, replete with its distinct bokeh. To say that the bokeh breaks the image, or that a different treatment of the background would make it, is purely conjecture (and highly subjective, of course). But there's no example I could give that would avoid these pitfalls. Dan