The image above uses bokeh to draw the eye to the gorgeous, spring Pear Tree flowers in the foreground.
So how do you achieve this effect in your images? The short answer is that you want to use a wide aperture when shooting. Many lenses can achieve f/2.8 or wider (meaning lower numbers such as f/1.8 or f/1.4) for this effect.
Shooting in manual or aperture priority mode is helpful. For beginners especially, aperture priority mode will allow you to set your aperture without having to worry about what shutter speed to select. In manual mode, you will need to set both the aperture and shutter speed.
If your lens is not fast enough to use these wide apertures, placing more distance between your subject and the background can do the trick as well. In the image below, the subject (rope) was placed 100+ feet away from the background (the ocean), creating a beautiful blurred background.
Any questions on how to make this work for you? Give me a shout out in the comments!
