Is Background Bokeh really necessary in Wildlife Photography.

[raptor photo]

It really does depend. Sometimes, there's enough action in the photo to make it on of your best shots without a BG:

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Sometimes, all you're looking for is a simple portrait of a new bird:

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Sometimes, the background tells an intriguing story:

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And sometimes, the BG turns a normal photo into one of your best:

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Photography is all about creativity, you have to try to visualize the right BG for what you're trying to get.

 

[fcotterill]

The 500mm f5.6E PF works well against a 'friendly' background; and stalking this Grey Duiker, I needed the TC14 III

Nikon D850, 1/800, f8, ISO 9000

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[RaffScallion]

Interesting “poser”… Short answer is yes as bokeh tones down distracting background. There are simple editing tools in Apple for JPEGs that were originally designed for removing dust spots, etc, that can be enlarged to soften backgrounds…. If you’re happy with the results that’s all that matters..

Don't forget LrC's new Blur feature!

 

[ARClark]

With all the movement towards the mirrorless glass these days coming out at 4.5 to 8 does that mean that bokeh is a thing of the past? With the exception of spending over 14,000 on up on a lens. I love my 600 f4 however the new glass is very much out of my reach these days. Just curious how the majority of people felt about it.

I think bokeh is still both very desirable and achievable with slower lenses, though best results take a little more care in background selection, subject distance from the lens and subject to background distance. It's worth noting that many bird photographers often stop down their long fast lenses anyway if their intent is to get the entire bird in focus. Wide open the long f/2.8 and f/4 lenses have the benefit of offering faster shutter speeds and/or lower ISOs relative to slower lenses, but stopping them down to achieve greater depth of field lessens their bokeh and speed advantages in practice.

 

[O]

Keep in mind that although aperture is really the only thing that can affect depth of field, there are a number of things that can affect how our backgrounds look. Most notably, your distance to the subject and the distance of the subject to the background. The quality of the background can have a significant impact as well.

Take a look at these images - all of which were shot with slower glass. To me, the backgrounds look every bit as good as what I see with my faster glass. However, they only look that way because I positioned myself so I was close enough to the subject to (more or less) fill the frame, the background was somewhat distant, and the backgrounds where generally "smooth" and not overly disturbed. Also, I'd add that not every background has to be a smooth, creamy blur - sometimes a hint of what's there is helpful for context. The trick is that it's just a hint and not hitting you over the head!

Oh, and I'm contractually obligated to mention that the first two were with a pre-production 600 PF.


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For me

Love these example photos, they are just beautiful, the creatures simply command the eye and evoke a pleasing emotion for me.
What i see is Beautiful, it clearly reflects skill sets and shows what can really be achieved even on mid level or non exotic glass.
Love the rain effect, WOW.

You have summed up the key points perfectly. One should never feel left behind.

If 90% of what we get comes from the person behind the viewfinder, why do some people spend 90% of their money and time on the 10%.

I find skill set, composition, opportunity, plays such an enormous part as to what we eventually achieve. Yes some tools make it easier absolutely as they should, but a hammer is still a hammer, its how you use it that counts.

I tell new beginner photography club member's Invest in your self first, its also what i personally believe in.

In the right position, light and opportunity at 500mm even on my old hack 150-500 Sigma that lives in the trunk on a D7100 can surprisingly deliver very pleasing results depending on how its used, of course its easier with F2.8 or F4 glass.

My 300 2.8 VR II at F2.8 speaks volumes used at F2.8 or F4 and so easily makes back grounds melt away as expected, but the real need for what i want out of this F2.8 prime is speed and gathering light especially in low light conditions again especially micro detail and micro contrast, light is my best friend.

I feel with some of the new Z glass the large diameter, shorter length in cases, along with some of the new lens formula technology has really moved things up a level.

Any manufacturer turning up sensor sensitivity to light is going to complement a lot of the F5.6 F6.3 F9 stops.

There is for most people really no need to buy the 600 or 400 TCs exotics, i mean they have their place and if you can afford them that's fantastic.

There are some amazing FX glass bargains available in exotic primes that if you need F2.8 or F4 primes, hey its always worth a serious look, a 600 F4 FL on a D850 or D5, its 10% of the equation, 90% is you.

As to editing my way into the look i expect, no thanks, not where my passion thrives, yet i know many people who actually just love doing it and that's so wonderful, to me sitting is the new smoking LOL, i do believe the AI technology in the future if not already will be revolutionizing editing as we know it, i mean will we ever just tell Siri to edit what we would normally do our self LOL.

I like outsourcing serious editing...........for good reason, its cheap, it always gives me fast even AI cutting edge results over night while i am dining out, at a movie, or in bed doing other things like reading, yes sleeping.

Only an opinion

 

[Steve]

For me

Love these example photos, they are just beautiful, the creatures simply command the eye and evoke a pleasing emotion for me.
What i see is Beautiful, it clearly reflects skill sets and shows what can really be achieved even on mid level or non exotic glass.
Love the rain effect, WOW.

You have summed up the key points perfectly. One should never feel left behind.

Thanks for the kind words

 

[O]

Bokeh is good but so is being able to see the background, if it is relevant. A lot of this is fashion. Bokeh is fashionable. It can be over done. I'm interested in how I see things. Have I been trained how to see? Do I see what others see?

What you say seems to make some sense

Bokeh,

Is it fashionable, not really i fell more its artistic and technically enhancing the photo.
Is it a Tool to achieve a result, yes
Is it natural looking, depends if the shot is a record shot documentary shot or artistic shot.
Is it used properly, if not its mainly due to possibly a lack of skill set or more so poor opportunity, but yes for a lot of people.
Is it real, up to the individuals taste.
How should we see it. However we want it to be seen as long as it pleases the author and viewer.

EXAMPLE The EMU photo is absolutely lovely and what a character LOL love it,
for myself i cant focus on or keep my eye on the EMU for the blinding white circles especially on the left.

As humans we usually tend to focus on the brightest part of a image first, if its really bright it seems to compete for the eye against the intended point of interest.

If you have a sparrow in front of a very busy similar colour or contrast environment the sparrow can become lost somewhat, de-saturating the back ground in post often may help.

Bokeh doesn't have to be silky smooth and plain in colour etc, but the objective is to try and isolate the key subject and minimize the risk of the eye being distracted, competing with the focal point of interest, or the message.

Its a technique, tool and or art.

Only an opinion

 

[Anjin San]

To definitively answer your question -- It depends. It depends on the photographer's and/or viewer's personal preference; it depends on whether the background detracts from the main subject or distracts the viewer's from the subject; it depends on whether it shows the subject in it's habitat.

Yep…sometimes you want a little, sometimes a lot, and sometimes none. Just depends on the particular angle you're aiming for with a particular shot. Or the lens you happen to have on and the relative positioning of you, the subject, and the background so that getting BG blur isn't in the cards. In that case…the some insurance shots and then try to improve the composition by moving closer or right/left or up/down or swap lenses or...or...

If it's something you've never seen before…getting the insurance shot first is a must. If it's just another GBH…maybe not so much and you can try to improve the positioning. If it's the GBH trying to swallow the eel or the largest fish you've ever seen…again the insurance shot first is a must.

 

[raptor photo]

Yep…sometimes you want a little, sometimes a lot, and sometimes none. Just depends on the particular angle you're aiming for with a particular shot. Or the lens you happen to have on and the relative positioning of you, the subject, and the background so that getting BG blur isn't in the cards. In that case…the some insurance shots and then try to improve the composition by moving closer or right/left or up/down or swap lenses or...or...

If it's something you've never seen before…getting the insurance shot first is a must. If it's just another GBH…maybe not so much and you can try to improve the positioning. If it's the GBH trying to swallow the eel or the largest fish you've ever seen…again the insurance shot first is a must.

Exactly. If it's new or cool, get 'normal' style photos first. If it's common, think about how you can make your photo great using your creativity.

 

[fcotterill]

Check out this thread discussing the video by @Steve to compose Better Backgrounds

5 Pro Secrets For Better Wildlife Backgrounds

If you want to take your wildlife photos to the next level, you gotta start with the background. In this video, I'll show you how to get great backgrounds with any lens (SURPRISE - you don't need a big, fast prime to do it). I'll show you how to strategically leverage your position, distance...

bcgforums.com

 

[O]

With all the movement towards the mirrorless glass these days coming out at 4.5 to 8 does that mean that bokeh is a thing of the past? With the exception of spending over 14,000 on up on a lens. I love my 600 f4 however the new glass is very much out of my reach these days. Just curious how the majority of people felt about it.

I think Steve sums it up very well............

Steve's comments "Keep in mind that although aperture is really the only thing that can affect depth of field, there are a number of things that can affect how our backgrounds look. Most notably, your distance to the subject and the distance of the subject to the background. The quality of the background can have a significant impact as well"

I reflected on training days in our camera club, many member's had different needs questions and skills.

Bottom line

If you love using your FX 600 F4 or 300 2.8 VR II the operative word is LOVE that matters, a 300 2.8 used at 2.8 does basically what a 600 F4 does at F4 as far as background blur goes.

I find a 150-500 Sigma, 200-500, 70-200 FL all does similar with back grounds, and as Steve says its all depending on distances between you, your subject, and the back ground position.

For me unless its a F4 or F2.8 glass everything else is more fair weather or good light glass and easier to carry, F4 F2.8 mirror less glass is being priced up into F1 levels making lighter smaller PF style lenses more desirable but in my view also at very expensive prices for what they are...............

To me the pre owned or on sale FX F4 F2.8 prime glass is becoming incredibly attractive especially if your looking for spectacular blurred back grounds and essential lower light performance, is a compromise in size and weight worth it, that's up to the individual.

I want smaller, lighter, as sharp as FX primes, but most importantly with good low light performance, OK, what do i need, 1) money 2) transition to mirror less 3) comprise on lower light capability compared to F4 F2.8 primes.

Yet I would be happy with my 300 2.8 VR II or 600 F4 FL.

Many club members are delivering spectacular images on FX DSLRS and Mirror less systems, there all just tools, do either make you a better photographer ?

Be happy love what you have and do, 90% of what you achieve comes from you.


Only an opinion

 

[Doug Herr]

Sometimes there's no background.

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[Nimi]

Sometimes there's no background.

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But look at that buttery transition to OOF...

 

[Doug Herr]

But look at that buttery transition to OOF...

The lens was a simple 2-element achromat from 1970 with field curvature and enough spherochromatic aberration to be glaringly obvious in higher-contrast OOF objects in the background i.e., twigs, reeds or blades of grass. It would appear as bright magenta/green fringing that was difficult to correct for. I had to be very careful with backgrounds when using that lens.

 

[O]

It really does depend. Sometimes, there's enough action in the photo to make it on of your best shots without a BG:View attachment 74212
Sometimes, all you're looking for is a simple portrait of a new bird:View attachment 74213
Sometimes, the background tells an intriguing story:

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And sometimes, the BG turns a normal photo into one of your best:
View attachment 74215
Photography is all about creativity, you have to try to visualize the right BG for what you're trying to get.

Its clear you enjoy what your doing.....lovely

 

[O]

With all the movement towards the mirrorless glass these days coming out at 4.5 to 8 does that mean that bokeh is a thing of the past? With the exception of spending over 14,000 on up on a lens. I love my 600 f4 however the new glass is very much out of my reach these days. Just curious how the majority of people felt about it.

Back ground blur is simply a tool, you either use it or you don't, it all has to do with the desired effect of what the author wants or is trying to communicate to the viewer, the means of achieving the desired back ground blur is dependent largely on composition, skill sets and the tools used.

You can buy and drive a KIA, BMW, Ferrari they are all different, but all still get you to your destination.

Only an opinion

 

[Lance B]

For me, a good background, especially good bokeh, is essential in a good photograph. If it is jittery, harsh and distracting, then it takes away from the subject. If the background is clean and the bokeh is good, then the subject is more pronounced and the center of attention your eyes are not distracted by background interference. There are those that like to contextualize the subject and include the background so as to place the wildlife or other subject in their habitat. If this is the case, then even a small aperture (high f number) with a long lens will still generally mean a blurred background and thus it should be smooth and clean where possible, IMO. I have always been a fan of "good bokeh", whether it be wildlife, portraits, or other subject matter and hence my penchant for fast lenses - which generally mean high prices and with high prices generally means that a lens comes with more attention paid to things like bokeh. However, these are just my humble opinions, and everyone is different and has different tastes.

 

[Mike Delgado]

Anyone can photograph a subject for me background is key.

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[Doug Herr]

A common misuse of the word bokeh is quantity of blur. As originally defined bokeh is the quality of the blur; it can be soft and smooth, or harsh and distracting, or neutral, neither especially pleasing nor distracting. Among the factors that influence bokeh are distance from subject to foreground or background, the shape of the objects in the OOF areas, the lighting of the OOF areas and optical properties of the lens.

Isolating a subject with a lot of blur can make a pleasing photo but tells us little about the creature's habitat. A suggestion of habitat tells more of the animal's story but risks distracting from the subject with a distracting negative space; this is where lighting, types of OOF objects and optical properties of the lens play a bigger role.

 

[Nimi]

A common misuse of the word bokeh is quantity of blur. As originally defined bokeh is the quality of the blur; it can be soft and smooth, or harsh and distracting, or neutral, neither especially pleasing nor distracting. Among the factors that influence bokeh are distance from subject to foreground or background, the shape of the objects in the OOF areas, the lighting of the OOF areas and optical properties of the lens.

Isolating a subject with a lot of blur can make a pleasing photo but tells us little about the creature's habitat. A suggestion of habitat tells more of the animal's story but risks distracting from the subject with a distracting negative space; this is where lighting, types of OOF objects and optical properties of the lens play a bigger role.

100%. And for me, the quality of the transition to the oof region is very important. That's principally how I judge lenses. I've had plenty of sharp lenses with great background, but the transition was too harsh; back they went.

 

[DRwyoming]

A common misuse of the word bokeh is quantity of blur. As originally defined bokeh is the quality of the blur; it can be soft and smooth, or harsh and distracting, or neutral, neither especially pleasing nor distracting. Among the factors that influence bokeh are distance from subject to foreground or background, the shape of the objects in the OOF areas, the lighting of the OOF areas and optical properties of the lens.

Isolating a subject with a lot of blur can make a pleasing photo but tells us little about the creature's habitat. A suggestion of habitat tells more of the animal's story but risks distracting from the subject with a distracting negative space; this is where lighting, types of OOF objects and optical properties of the lens play a bigger role.

Agreed, it seems in recent years folks have morphed the term Bokeh to be synonymous with background blur or out of focus backgrounds in general.

FWIW, a very long time ago I was taught the meaning of the word Bokeh was the qualitative rendering of out of focus highlights. Sure that can play an important role in overall background blur especially in backgrounds with a lot of tonal variation or specular highlights but there are a lot of blurred backgrounds that have few to no visible out of focus highlights and are just a wash of evenly lit color, these don't really tell much if anything about Bokeh. Catadioptric mirror lenses are a great example of obvious Bokeh differences in the way they render out of focus highlights as doughnuts but even with a telephoto mirror lens it's possible to shoot evenly lit, even toned backgrounds at such a distance that the Bokeh differences don't appear and the background is a smooth even color.

 

[O]

With all the movement towards the mirrorless glass these days coming out at 4.5 to 8 does that mean that bokeh is a thing of the past? With the exception of spending over 14,000 on up on a lens. I love my 600 f4 however the new glass is very much out of my reach these days. Just curious how the majority of people felt about it.

I think the increased range of mirror less glass especially like the 400, 600 PF, as well as the 100-400, 180-600 even the, yes, 28-400 zoom all make background outcomes even more possible.
Just with out the weight or bulk.

Only an opinion

 

[Anjin San]

Depends on your definition of ‘better’ I guess. While I can’t deny that at PP levels of detail my 600PF or any other high priced prime is better than my 100-400 or 180-600 or either with the TC mounted…at output levels of resolution most of that difference just isn’t visible any more. Add in the ever increasing capabilities we have in denoise, sharpening, and evn background blur and my guess is that a screenshot even at 2:1 will show less of a difference and even less at output. Then consider individual needs…a guy like Steve whose income depends on the best possible shot which means the best lens and using natural f4 or f2.8 bokeh instead of LR’s version can justify the $15K lens. For a non pro who puts the images on Instagram or a web page or whatever…the economic calculation is different…and I think for people like that other factors like skills and abilities play a much bigger part than best possible lens does. I can think of exactly zero instances when someone looked at my blog and commented that a 600/4 lens would have given me a better shot…but there have been countless instances when the combo of a much lighter 600PF, the 100-400, and the 1.4TC got me shots on an outing that the 600TC alone would not have gotten, and the size/weight of the latter would have necessarily reduced what I have with me.

 

[Matt N]

I always take wildlife photography trips with my wife and we generally have very different setups. For example, I'll usually rent a 600 f4 or 400 f2.8 and she was using the Canon 100-500 for everything. I got permission from my wife to include her pictures here.

On one trip we were on a road in a wildlife refuge that had canals on both sides, so we couldn't really get any closer or farther from our subjects. In the case of the Egret below, we were side-by-side, so these two pictures really demonstrate how a 600 f4 can really smooth out a background. I found the bokeh to be very nervous in the picture from the 100-500. With that said, neither of these pictures are phenomenal or are hanging on our walls, and the 100-500 was slightly out of focus on the eye.

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However, on the flip side, we were at a different wildlife refuge taking photos of owls. I had a Canon R5 with 400mm 2.8 and she had the R6 with 100-500 f7.1. I'm not in love with my picture of the owl (first one below). I feel like it has some composition issues and I just don't get a sense of the environment. But my wife's picture taken at f7.1 is my favorite picture hanging in the house. I feel like it's looking into my soul and I love the leaves around it. Interestingly, we submitted it to a contest and they said it was too busy, but I disagree.

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I guess my point is that composition matters more than the bokeh, but a nervous bokeh can really detract from a picture. I'll also note that my wife's photo of the owl was taken HANDHELD at 1/20 sec shutter speed since her setup was so light (I was very impressed) while I was lugging around a tripod and not getting the angles I wanted.

 

[fcotterill]

Excellent comparisons

Here are two articles - the interview particularly - that give useful insights into how Nikon engineers optimize the rendering of a lens.

The interview published 11 years ago sets the timeline (release of the 85 f1.4G) when Nikon began its sequence of prime lenses designed to optimize the rendering and sharpness: 35 f1.4G, 58 f1.4G, 105 f1.4G.

The Z System followed

Analyzing NIKKOR lens characteristics | Stories | Nikon About Us

Conventionally, the characteristics of lenses were conveyed orally from one designer to another. Nikon has developed a method to more precisely measure these characteristics and employs it to reproduce them. Introducing OPTIA, an aberration measurement device that accurately assesses lens...

www.nikon.com

ニコンが考える“レンズの味”とは? AF-S NIKKOR 58mm F1.4 Gの設計に見るレンズ計測装置「OPTIA」の活躍

既報の通り、 ニコンが交換レンズのすべての収差を測定できるという計測装置「OPTIA」（Optical Performance and Total Image Analyzer）と画像シミュレーターの連携運用を開始した。これにより「“レンズの味”と収差の対応関係を明らかにできる」というが、実際にはどういった計測が行なわれ、どのようにレンズ開発に活かされているのだろうか? 今回は、同社のレンズ設計部門責任者、レンズ設計者とOPTIAの開発支援担当者に話を伺った。（本文中敬称略）

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