Trendy Photography: I'm Apparently Doing It Right

So a few photography blogs I've been reading have been talking about bokeh.

Bokeh is defined by Wikipedia as: 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."  Differences in lens aberrations and aperture shape cause some lens designs to blur the image in a way that is pleasing to the eye, while others produce blurring that is unpleasant or distracting— "good" or "bad" bokeh, respectively.

Basically, it's the idea that you use the blur to bring out the focal point of your pictures (with greater or lesser amounts of success).  Here are a few of my better bokeh pictures...

Floating Sunspot

What I absolutely love about this one is that the bokeh creates the effect that the flower is just floating in space.  There is a stem... but you can't see it! 

Turaco, Busy Building

 This is a White Crested Turaco from the free-flight section of Brookfield Zoo.

Little Bug Makes an Exit

In this one, not only is the background blurred, the edges of the petals on the left are too, drawing your eye to the center of the flower and the bug crawling out of it.

Grasshopper, Stick-Clinger

 This little grasshopper was ridiculously easy to lose in the grass, so without the background being obscured, it would be hard to see what I was trying to capture.  This is from a photography trip I took last fall with a friend.  We were heading back to the car from one of our stops when I saw this guy bounding around the grassy area between where we'd parked and the highway.  I made her wait fifteen minutes while I chased him around until he was still enough for me to get a good shot!

Mr. Fokker Poppy Faces the Sun

 This one is interesting because it's the blurry flowers in the background that give this photo some needed color to keep it from being too monochromatic.

12-Spotted Rester

 This one is more typical of what you see in the 'text-book' examples of bokeh, where the background bits become little circles of light.  Personally I wish I could get more of my shots to do this.  I often get just really harsh glare off the water.

Itty-Bitty Flower Committee

 This is a little curl of flowers that took me forever to capture properly.  Believe it or not, the whole cluster is about the size of a nickel.  When you're shooting with a macro lens, you can be pretty sure your background will be quite blurred.  This can be good when you're trying to isolate something like this, but less helpful in settings where you want to capture everything.

Shiny Red Wings

 This guy is from one of my recent Midewin posts.  The beetle is in sharp focus, as is the leaf he's on, but the rest of the plant, and the plants behind him are almost nonexistent.  Because of all the soft greens, his red shell really pops.

Halloween Pennant in August

Dragonflies like this are pretty well camouflaged, so if the background were to stay as busy as it really was, the dragonfly wouldn't be nearly as visible or clear.

Chicago Done Naturally (Post 6 of 10) - Brookfield Zoo

Brookfield Zoo

Brookfield is much bigger than Lincoln Park. It’s a pay-admission zoo, and even a pay-to-park zoo, if you’re not a member. However, if you’re big on public transportation, the Metra lets you off just a few blocks from the zoo, so you can avoid the parking fee.

Brookfield is very photo-friendly. They even have a list of shooting suggestions on their website. Obviously, you’ll want your tripod and telephoto/macro lenses if you have them. Being bigger, and admission-based, they tend to have fewer school groups during the day, or at least they’re less concentrated.

It’s unlikely you’ll be able to see the whole of this zoo in one day. So you might want to download a map before you go and make a plan.

Flash photography is allowed in certain indoor exhibits at this zoo. The free-flight area of the perching bird house and the penguin/inca tern habitat are a few places where you don’t have glass separating you from the animals, and you’re allowed to use a flash. Watch for signs – places like Habitat Africa and Australia House have a number of nocturnal animals and flashes are not allowed, at least in certain areas. There’s almost always a keeper or docent within sight and they know the rules, so if in doubt just ask someone in a green shirt. Tripods are allowed and even with the carefully controlled lighting to try and make nocturnal animals interesting during the day, a lot of them are still enough that you can get a good shot without the flash and a long (sometimes really long) shutter.

For example, this hyrax was taken in a very dark environment with an 8 second shutter at f4.5 on a tripod.

To hit:
From Memorial Day to Labor Day there’s a fantastic exhibit, simply called, Butterflies! And it’s exactly what it says on the tin. About 20 species, hundreds of specimens, in free-flight around you in a big net house. The best way to get good shots is to get to the zoo a few minutes before it opens, and go straight to there once they let you in. (It’s just on the left of the North Gate) At that point the butterflies are lying around on rocks and the pathway (watch where you walk and put your tripod!) warming up and they haven’t been annoyed into finding hiding places yet. While they’re still cool from the night, they’re still and their wings are open. Great shooting!

The free-flight area of the bird house is great. There are two huge red McCaws on a perch right next to the observation deck, but the more interesting birds are in the trees. You can use your flash and tripod here and either these birds are fed *often* or I’ve developed a knack for going there when they’re being fed, which brings them down from the higher limbs or denser bushes.

Tropic World: This is three separate environments for the various monkeys and apes of the world. You’re up on walkways, so there’s no glass or bars, but the flipside is, most of the monkeys stay pretty far back in the huge exhibit. Bring your telephoto for good shots. The apes tend to stay a little closer to you. Also, watch the signs – they rotate the hippo and the otters in the middle part, so you may want to come back later to get the other animal.


To miss:
The dolphins have returned to the Seven Seas exhibit, which was recently redone, but they haven’t announced an opening date. Breaking news off Facebook: Dolphin shows are scheduled to resume Memorial Day weekend.

Likewise, for the next little while (until May 8, 2010) the bears are off exhibit as they get used to their new home.