UMHS Digital Photo of the Week: A study in the "Bokeh Effect"

Upper Moreland-Willow Grove Patch is proud to present the artwork from Alex Pinguli's Digital Photography class .

This week's artworks:

• A study in Bokeh Effect 

Photo by Amanda Rivera  (10th grade)

• A study in Bokeh Effect

Photo by Kelly Malseed (11th Grade)

• A study in Bokeh Effect

Photo by Kurt Lindhult (11th Grade)

---

A lesson in "Bokeh Effect" - by Alex Pinguli:

"In Photography, Bokeh refers to the blur of the out - of-focus areas of an image, usually in the background. When this happens, the background appears not only blurry but light rays break into bright circles.

Students began by learning about the difference between wide and narrow depth of field. In an image with wide depth of field things in the foreground and background appear sharp. 

On the other hand, a narrow depth of field has a very shallow focus plane so that only a particular subject appears in focus while areas close and far away from the subject get progressively blurry. 

Students attempted to capture pure bokeh by photographing their subject against a light sources and reflections. Next, they learned how to simulate the bokeh effect in Photoshop by painting blurry bright circles of light on the background of their image."