Today we’re going to be taking a look at the photographic effect known as bokeh. Although bokeh is simply “blur”, using it in an effective fashion can add real style and depth to your images. We’ll point you in the right direction to learn more about this technique, and showcase over a hundred stunning examples of bokeh photography.
Learning About Bokeh
In photography, bokeh is the blur, or the aesthetic quality of the blur, in out-of-focus areas of an image, or “the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light” (source). It’s often most visible around lights in your image background, but blur actually occurs in any out-of-focus areas in your images.
Want to find out more about bokeh? We’ve published a few tutorials relating to what it means, and how you can easily re-create it in your own photography. Take a look at one of the following articles plenty of extra information:
- Nifty Fifty: The Benefits of a Fixed 50mm Lens
- The Art of Bokeh
- Or for more inspiration, check out Psdtuts+ roundup of More Than 620 Bokeh Background Textures!
100 Stunning Bokeh Photography Examples
Paul Hocksenar
Nick Bradsworth
Sara Kiesling
Mario
Lindsey
Agnisoonu
Mario
Gege
Helen Sotiriadis
Zita
Jasmine
Abby Lanes
Jeni
Catarina
Maureen
Siebe Warmoeskerken
Ross Reyes
Nawaf Hazeem
Mulia
Les Lengyel
Ryan O. Hicks
Michaela Rother
Romain Ballez
Diego Sevilla Ruiz
Tori Steffen
Tracey Telik
DerNetteAlex
Anika Sablan
Fabio Sabatini
Palakorn
Joni Niemelä
Jes
Akhilesh Sharma
Melissa
Vjekoslav Bobi?
John
Gabriel Asper
Anna Gay
Ryan O. Hicks
Agnisoonu
Kit Hung
Stuart
Nicki Summerson
Kevin Farris
Crezalyn Nerona Uratsuji
Weihao87
Johnny Patience
Nasos Zovoilis
Natalia Campbell
Fabio
Adriana Giglio
Thomas Lottermoser
Erwin
Sergei Chumakov
Kelly
Shaina
Azzam Merchant
Sarah Bernhard
GlennWaters
Van Yuen
Lee
Lotfi Dakhli
Dennis William Gaylor
eRiz
Kimberly Clark
Josh Libatique
Yuji Shoda
Ilias o
David L
Sara
Kristine May
Roger Lim
Giovanni Orlando
Nest
Jordan Chark
Adam Furgang
Erik Forsberg
Karin Eberhard
Moogibang
Emma
Val Petras
Neuza Teixeira
Art Flow
Florian Sprenger
Joey Makalintal
Martin Dorigny
Jonathan Harris
BrandonWarren
Agnisoonu
Harold Lloyd
David Olkarny
Ryan Connors
Janna Pham
Hoài Nam
Jim Ward
Milen
David Lin
Sylvia
Roger Lim
Faisal Al Ali
Reni Li Wu
TMAB2003
Inma
Michael Elford
Zuzana
Tian Chew Lim
Related Bokeh Resources
Here are a few resources that can help you acheive a similar effect.
How to Achieve Better Bokeh – 4 Simple Tips
50+ Lens Bokeh Comparison
DIY – Creating Custom Shape Bokeh
Custom Bokeh With the Bokeh Masters Kit
Digital Bokeh
Though using digital bokeh wouldn’t do justice to your photographic skill, you can still try these tutorials and pre-made PS brushes. These are extremely useful if you are a Graphic Designer or plan to be one in future.
Shape Bokeh Photoshop Tutorial
Bokeh Effect Photoshop Tutorial
Digital Brush Presets
Share Your Images!
Do you have a few examples of bokeh photography you’d like to share? We would love to see them! Just paste a link to your image(s) below in the comments so everyone can take a look.
Best of luck with exploring this fascinating area of photography for yourself!