Night photography tip: using bokeh rings

Thursday 23 December 2021, 23:46 by Nando Harmsen | 4,858 views | 2 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

Taking portraits in the evening can be great fun. A flash combined with a very shallow depth of field can produce something extra special: bokeh rings.

They give your portrait an extra atmospheric feel. What your photo looks like is unique, because each lens produces a different look.

I have written about bokeh before. It is a term that means nothing more than the appearance of the blur in a photo. Compare it to the bouquet of blur. If you want to read more about it, take a look at my article about bokeh.

Bokeh rings are lights that appear blurred in the image. Their shape, size and appearance depend, among other things, on your lens, how blurred the lights in your background are, and your aperture, of course.
By using a shallow depth of field, you can make both the background and foreground appear blurred in the image. An aperture of f/2.8, or a larger lens opening, is certainly recommended.

If you have lights in the foreground and background, they will change into large round circles, or balls, or rings... whatever you want to call them. These are the bokeh rings.

Wendy in Utrecht, with bokeh rings in the background.
If you are going to photograph a portrait, find a spot with lights in the background. Then choose the largest possible lens opening and look for a nice composition in which the resulting bokeh rings in the background form a pleasing fill behind your model.

You do not have to limit yourself to portrait photos, of course. As long as you have a subject in the foreground and lights in the background, you can use these bokeh rings in your composition. You can also use multi-exposure if your camera offers that option.

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About the author

Nando Harmsen has been photographing for more than 40 years. He specialises in wedding photography and landscape photography. Nando also gives talks, workshops, masterclasses and photo trips, and regularly reviews new and interesting equipment.

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2 comments

Mac wrote on Monday 27 December 2021 at 08:19 | reply
And if you want to be kitschy, you use pieces of cardboard to give shapes to your bokeh
Translated from Dutch.

Nando wrote on Tuesday 28 December 2021 at 10:02 | reply
@Mac:
A good suggestion. You change the appearance of the blur, and thus the bokeh, as you explain yourself.
Thank you for the addition.
Translated from Dutch.

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