We'll refer to you as "Hiho the Bold" from now on, unless you get the brown ribbon, then we'll refer to you as "Hiho the Rash." ;-)
Heh...the last time I came close to the Crown of Brown...I practically DID get a RASH!!!
Okay...let's think about this...small chance of victory (Ursula may be entering); hordes of DNMC police; lurking evil trolls; strong possibility to wear the Crown of Brown...
I'm not entering this challenge (have already entered the 'Topless' one), but I thought the challenge meant something like the following shot:
Shot was taken for the Cancer Foundations Dragon Boats competition held here as an international event for the women with breastcancer.
Looks like it was a good event. You're right it's something like this shot, except that this shot, even though it depends to a large degree on the out of focus foreground, doesn't quite nail the concept of foreground bokeh. In other words, just because it's an out of focus foreground doesn't mean it is a quality blur in the foreground. But that's just my view, and maybe I'm wrong. I like all the pinks in the picture. :)
I'm not entering this challenge (have already entered the 'Topless' one), but I thought the challenge meant something like the following shot:
Shot was taken for the Cancer Foundations Dragon Boats competition held here as an international event for the women with breastcancer.
Looks like it was a good event. You're right it's something like this shot, except that this shot, even though it depends to a large degree on the out of focus foreground, doesn't quite nail the concept of foreground bokeh. In other words, just because it's an out of focus foreground doesn't mean it is a quality blur in the foreground. But that's just my view, and maybe I'm wrong. I like all the pinks in the picture. :)
Ok, I get you. I took that shot with an f4 aperture, maybe if it had been an f2.8 or bigger it would have been better but maybe still not 'bokeh'.
OK, i recall shots that have front bokeh. They are those rows of items. You know, a row of bottles, pencils, glasses, etc etc, shot with a really large aperture. I suppose you would just ensure that the last one is in perfect focus and the first has bokeh.
My guess is that there will be lots of rows of something or other.
A true bokeh in the foregound is rather disturbing in my opinion. Most of the pictures shown above are not 'forekeh'. They are just out of focus in the foreground, that's it.
I THOUGHT THAT BOKEH INVOLVED CIRCLES OR SMALL SHAPES CAUSED BY THE LENS EFFECT ON THE AREA OUT OF FOCUS.
DON'T GET ME WRONG, I HAVE A LONG WAY TO GO BEFORE KNOWING WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT. JUST TRYING TO LEARN.
Here's the Wikipedia article on bokeh. And an article by the much hated Ken Rockwell. And something from one of my favourite sites, Luminous Landscape.
And, from Planet Nikon: "What is bokeh?
Bokeh is what makes those silky backgrounds you see in wildlife scenes, portraits and other well crafted images where a smooth out of focus background is present."
FWIW, "bokeh" is NOT just the out of focus points of light that show up as different size circles (if the lens is wide open) or the polygonal shape of the aperture (when not wide open). That is what most people here associate with bokeh, but it isn't just that.
Can anybody suggest how to get bokeh with compact digicams like canon powershot A-550? I tried but still unable to get that effect. It seems bokeh is possible only with D-SLRs.
Can anybody suggest how to get bokeh with compact digicams like canon powershot A-550? I tried but still unable to get that effect. It seems bokeh is possible only with D-SLRs.
From my quick look at the a550 it looks like you have neither aperture priority nor shutter priority available, which will make things hard... basically you want a fairly wide aperture to limit depth of field, and some objects in the foreground that fall outside the range of focus.
You can try shooting with something very close to the lens, and your subject farther away, and see what happens. But you don't have a lot of control.
I used to shoot a a70 which had aperture priority, and getting bokeh was no problem. So some P&S cameras can do it.
Can anybody suggest how to get bokeh with compact digicams like canon powershot A-550? I tried but still unable to get that effect. It seems bokeh is possible only with D-SLRs.
From my quick look at the a550 it looks like you have neither aperture priority nor shutter priority available, which will make things hard... basically you want a fairly wide aperture to limit depth of field, and some objects in the foreground that fall outside the range of focus.
How about experimenting with the 'Portrait' mode? I think that will force a wider aperture (meant to enhance a portrait shot by shortening the DOF). You also have a manual mode too I think that might be worth experimenting with.
Can anybody suggest how to get bokeh with compact digicams like canon powershot A-550? I tried but still unable to get that effect. It seems bokeh is possible only with D-SLRs.
Experiment with a magnifying glass in front of your camera. You can tilt it for more effects.
It was a nice idea. Too bad your description wasn't used verbatim, it might have nipped some of these metermaids in the bud ;-)
My description could have been better. The challenge description used perhaps could also have been more 'educational', for those who didn't feel like researching it on their own.
I am sure I've posted this elsewhere, but here goes again:
Opening paragraph describing Bokeh from Wikipedia:
"Bokeh (from the Japanese boke ‚Ú‚¯, "blur") is a photographic term referring to the appearance of out-of-focus areas in an image produced by a camera lens.[1] Different lens bokeh produces different aesthetic qualities in out-of-focus backgrounds, which are often used to reduce distractions and emphasize the primary subject."
This is/was an extremely difficult challenge, trying to get either of the effects (and to me they are both just out of focus, but you get the rings if you are capturing light only (including reflected light, like off of water drops)).
I didn't have as much time as I would like to experiment with this for this challenge, by setting up a shot specifically or taking this type of image outside. It would / could be quite a good 'double' learning lesson to follow this challenge up next week by repeating it. But I am partly biased.
I had only half a dozen shots to choose from with only one or two of those that had 'both' bokeh in them. None of them were 'wow' (for me anyway). What I ended up submitting was just 'what I liked most at the time'. In hindsight I've perhaps let other areas of the image come into play too much and therefore distract the conservatives, who I can't disagree with. At any rate, I'm not too bothered by my score. It's a good challenge to participate in and also vote on. I think it has been a good exercise for those who 'see' the potential in using this effect. I just think we might need to do it again... soon.
