I took this shot at the J & F Farm. We had stopped for tomatoes and carrots, but ended up wandering by where they grow their flowers, too.
I was pleased with the focus on the subject, and the nice bokeh behind it.
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I am an MBA with a Six Sigma Black Belt and a camera.
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The colors in this photograph are stunning!
Okay, I’m super new to photography so feel free to laugh at me for this next question, but what is a bokeh? I’ve seen it mentioned in your posts and I feel very silly for not knowing what it means!
Aside from that – great photo. Purple is my favorite color, but I think I’d still like it even if I wasn’t so biased.
Bokeh is the blurry portions of the photo. In this case, it’s just softly disappearing flowers into the background, but in other cases, you get lights reflected in interesting patterns, like this image:
Here, points of light are coming through trees in the background, and they reflected through the lens to show how many blades are in the lens that controls how much light is coming in. They’re both examples of bokeh. The wider the aperture, or lens opening is, the more your image is softened away from your focus point.
Okay, gotcha! Thanks
Can you get this look with a camera that’s not an SLR? I just got a Canon G12 but I haven’t really played around with any of the features yet.
I think so – here’s a shot taken with a telephone, of all things.
If your camera has an aperture setting, that’s where you will have the ability to get better bokeh. The lower the number you set the aperture, the more bokeh you get.
Okay, just looked up the G12′s aperture mode, and you can open that lens all the way up to f/2.8, so you should be able to get great results when you put it in aperture priority mode.
Thanks so much for looking that up, you are THE best!! Can’t wait to try it out
I love how the light makes heptagon. I always love it when you add pictures in the comment area, I feel like I get a little extra from the post.
Hi ronald, I love the flower shot! The color is very vivid. Can you give me a little tip on haw to have a Bokeh image?.. Can it be done into a not so advance camera?.. If not, what camera can I use to have this effect. Thank you in advance.
Sure can – you just want to find the aperture setting (often marked with an “A” on a selector dial), then move the aperture as low as possible.
If your camera doesn’t have an aperture setting, the only way I know to recreate this look is to have a large difference in distance between your objects. The mushrooms in the above example are about a foot away from the camera, and the trees are far in the distance. When the camera changed it’s focal point to be so near, the rest of the image slid out of focus.
Hope that helps!
Great color and composition too! You have a great site – glad I stumbled upon it.
I’m glad you found it, too, Erin.
Other readers – check out the “fort worth photographer” link above – she has some amazing portraits on her site.
Very nice shot here. I like how you focused you subject on the center while keeping a bokeh effect on the background. I love to take photos of flowers too. As I look at your subject, I sense how good the weather is in that farm because of the lighting.
This photo is my new everything…it’s on my computer…on my phone…amazing…
You have an amazing website here…it made me want to dust off my old photo camera >.< i
Thank you for this picture,glad i came across it…it made my not so good day better…
Have a nice day
High praise, George! Thanks for your kind words.
The double-edged sword that is the beautiful flower: it’s great to behold, but you know there’s a bee lurking around there somewhere…
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No kidding, Sonny. I have some bee shots that will be coming out soon.
i love purple flowers… great shot…
loved it…
Now I know what bokeh is… A very beautiful purple flower with its. Great color and capture!
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I am a sucker for flower shots. I always take my digital camera with me just in case I see colorful flowers on the roadside or where ever. I really like shallow depth of field flower shots – the creative edge!
Hi, what a beautiful shot of a flower! It looks so real. I can imagine touching and feeling the petals. I also keep expecting a bee to land on it anytime it looks so irresistible!
I learned a new word today: bokeh. Sounds like an exotic food. I would also love to try a bokeh effect.
Thanks for sharing!
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ohh, I want to runaway from the city and spent time with nature or probably die with it as well.
Love the fact that the color of the flower outshines the background. Plus points to the photographer. This kind of sites is seen in many postcards.
My sister really loved planting flowers and definitely, this flower seems to be like by her. She is collecting flowers like this. And this picture really looks stunning.
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Thanks, Ron.
Great! I loved the way you focused your subject. I am actually a nature photographer. In fact, flower is also one of my favorite subject in photography. Thanks for the share! Keep posting interesting pictures!
Thanks – I aim to.
I love these flowers, my grandma has a garden full of them! They’re called callistephus if I remember correctly, and I think they come from China. Anyway, beautiful shot! I’m sending the picture to my grandma, she’ll love it!
I think you’re right, these look like callistephus to me, too.
Such detail!! I love that you can see each little bud of pollen in the middle, and the outline of every little purple petal. Is this a daisy?
James – this is a beautiful site that you have created. I have had a great look through and your photography is simply stunning. Keep up the good work and keep the blog updated so that I get lovely wee emails in my inbox every so often!
Thank you, Graeme. So pleased to hear you like the photos.
I loved the picture and have set as my desktop background. Feeling rejuvenated looking at it.
This is inspiring me to improve my photography skills! Great clicks.
Gorgeous…is that really the color of the flower? It’s sooo vivid, I love being amazed by natural beauty in the world…the spectacular colors of a sunset, the rainbow of colors that flowers can have, how the stars look in the desert or anywhere away from city lights. You do such a great job of capturing the beauty in the world in your photographs.
Hi, Karen. Yes, the flower really is that lovely deep purple. Thanks for your kind words!
Can you give me a little tip on haw to have a Bokeh image?.. And this picture really looks stunning. I would also love to try a bokeh effect. Thanks for your kind words.
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Thanks to some of the comments on this post, I was able to identify one of the flowers I had caught. Thank you
You can see the flower here: http://nedtobin.com/store/index.php?route=product/product&path=61_66&product_id=110
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