As soon as I saw photos with this lovely soft, out of focus background, I was itching to give it a go myself. I find Bokeh, from the Japanese word meaning blur, one of the most visually appealing styles of photography.
I started experimenting with this style of photography back in autumn when I was out walking the dog in the mornings and the sun was low in the sky. Great places to try it out are in woodland areas where the light is filtering through the trees.
To achieve this look outdoors, you need a fast lens. Having said this, I currently shoot on a Canon EOS 550D with a Canon EF 28-105mm f3.5-4.5 USM lens so my widest aperture is f3.5, and it works.
It’s best to shoot in aperture priority. Set your aperture to its widest setting, focus on an object in the foreground (a leaf, a berry, a person…) getting as close as you can using manual focus. You’ll see the background blurring from this shallow depth of field, which is what creates the pleasing bokeh effect.
I got quite addicted to trying out some bokeh with berries through autumn and winter as you can see in these photos of rose hips and hawthorn berries.
Then come the frosty days of winter, I tried it with ferns which I thought looked really effective so I have quite a collection of fern bokeh.
Style and Story 