Created March 8, 2021
You do not necessarily need an expensive camera for a desired blurring in the background or also known as the bokeh effect. Because a smartphone is often enough for an interesting and blurred background. Most smartphone cameras already have the portrait mode, which blurs the background around the person recorded in a portrait picture. So when there is talk of a deliberate blurring in the background, it is the bokeh effect.
Sometimes a photo only becomes really interesting if not all of the layers on it are clearly visible. However, with this fuzziness it depends on the intended control. You can create simple bokeh effects with any high-quality camera – and with little tricks even with your smartphone.
Put the focus on the foreground
The cameras of the smartphones usually have the positive property of adjusting themselves and taking a sharp picture of the subjects. But you still have a way to get around this and create a blurring effect.
To do this, get very close to the subject. The camera on your smartphone then only has the option of focusing on this small section. This will make the background blurry and blurry.
The wonderful side effect is that the viewer can still perceive what can be seen in the background. It is therefore important that you choose a nice background and that the color also matches the actual motif in the foreground. The foreground motif must also clearly stand out from it.
The photo with the snowdrops clearly shows the intended blurring. The pure white of the flower heads stands out against the background. The colors from the foreground and background match each other harmoniously and at the same time the eye perceives the grass in the background and the moss on the ground.
If you don’t get the bokeh effect straight away, then it’s time to practice … practice … practice … as with almost all new techniques in life. This trains the eye and, by the way, is a lot of fun. Try out different motifs and colors and remember, many small miracles are not at eye level but close on the ground or in the treetops.
If you like, you can of course also download an app for the bokeh effect on your smartphone. These apps simulate a shallow depth of field using a blurred background.
The skilful game between sharpness and blurring
After you have a selection of these great photos with the bokeh effect on the memory card of your smartphone, you will definitely want to look at or show them often.
Of course, special photos deserve a special presentation:
Preferably with a scrapbooking. Scrapbooks are a more creative form of doing Design of photo albums. So instead of just showing glued photos one after the other, scrapbooks tell little stories. Use colored background paper, small accessories or memorabilia to hold the page
en interesting and invite you to linger a while and look at the photos.
I like to use it for scrapbooks Spiral albums. They are tied in the form of a spiral using a specially twisted wire. You may have noticed that the diameter of the spiral on a new album often seems oversized and this doesn’t really fit the ratio of the thickness of the album. But it has to be. Because when you start, the album with pictures and small accessories in the form of Stickers, tickets or other memories you will quickly notice how the album grows in height.
With this scrapbook we have once again emphasized the difference between the sharpness and the blurring through the background paper with the clear stripes. This brings the bokeh effect in the snowdrops even more into focus.
Just start …
Even if this type of page design sounds a bit complicated at this point, I can assure you that it is really very easy to implement. Just start, you will quickly notice that you will get more and more ideas for creative design in no time at all. And now, HAVE FUN with it!
Image sources:
Image 1: pasja1000-pixabay
Image 2: monic-heinen-diakite-pixabay
