Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/01/20
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Douglas Nygren wrote: >Someone asked what I consider good or bad bokeh. > >Don't know. > >Am interested in learning what others think. To me, "good" bokeh doesn't distract my attention from the subject of a photograph. "Bad" bokeh (in my view) has more high-contrast points than "good" bokeh. A lens that can produce "bad" bokeh, i.e., double-line or bright ring highlights will not always demonstrate its "bad bokeh" tendencies if the OOF areas are sufficiently diffuse or lacking in tonal range. I prefer to avoid "bad bokeh" lenses because they reduce my options in that I avoid problematic backgrounds. Using a "good bokeh" lens I face fewer background restrictions. this photo would have shown a much more distracting background if I had used a "bad bokeh" lens: http://wildlightphoto.com/birds/picidae/dowo00.html in this photo the background is so diffuse and lacking in tonal range that it might not have mattered what lens I used: http://wildlightphoto.com/mammals/rodents/ybma03.html the 280mm f/4 APO is more of a "neutral bokeh" lens, this background is a bit more edgy than the f/6.8 Telyts would have produced: http://wildlightphoto.com/mammals/lagomorphs/deco03.html with a more diffuse background the 280/4 APO's bokeh is fabulous: http://wildlightphoto.com/birds/accipitridae/feha02.html for bokeh I despise a mirror lens is just the thing: http://wildlightphoto.com/birds/picidae/acwo01.html Doug Herr Birdman of Sacramento http://www.wildlightphoto.com