Bokeh Photography – The Easy Way

In this tutorial, I’m going to show you how to create Bokeh Photography in a really easy way. The bokeh effect is simply an extreme shallow depth of field (blurry background) with circular or sometimes hexagonal beams of light in it. So, all you need for bokeh photography is to create a shallow depth of field and have beams of light in the background.

I’ll show you how to create the bokeh effect with your normal DSLR camera, kit lens, trees and sunlight. Just watch the video, follow the steps below, get out there and create bokeh!

1. Go to an area where there are trees in the day light.
2. Put your camera on its Aperture Priority mode and set it to its widest aperture.
3. Put your ISO on Auto.
4. Zoom fully in with your standard zoom lens (or use an 85mm prime lens if you have one).
5. Use a tripod and your 2 second timer if the shutter speed goes below 1/125th of a second.
6. Hide the sun behind branches or leaves so you don’t get silhouettes.
7. Make your focus point as close to lens as possible.
8. Have light beams in the background, this will be all the little gaps in the trees.
9. Then experiment.

I’d love to see your attempts at this. If you want to show us, tag us on Facebook or Instagram @theschoolofphotography1. Make sure the post is public on FB so we can see it.
I hope you liked this tutorial. If you did please like it, share with your friends and subscribe to the channel for more.

We upload new tutorials every week and if there’s anything you want us to cover here at The School of Photography put it in the comments below, it gives us great ideas for new tutorials.

Support us:

Grab a Freebie:

And join our learning community on social media-

Follow my personal photography work here:

Thanks for watching and remember – Learn more at The School of Photography.

NB: Above are some affiliate links and TSOP will receive a small percentage of some purchases made.

[evelync]

I have spent hours on finding a good video! I was finally able to understand how to create shallow depth of field after watching this video. Thank you! your video was easy to follow and went straight to the point- unlike other tutorials.

[DanishCamp]

One of your better videos in terms of learning and understanding.

[SyedYahyaSalleh]

Great! Great! Tutorial. I understand it the first time around. You are really a good teacher.

[nadeenabdu]

Finally I was able to take a bokeh photo. Very simple and straight to the point. Thank you so much.

[shahrulazim]

For the first time i understand how to do bokeh using kit lens and i'm proud to owned not expensive camera and the key is also practice and learning . Thank you sir !

[christianjohn]

This is the most straight forward tutorial my brain can understand! im super new in photography using canon sx70hs. Just tried your method and it worked. thank you sir!

[vicbagley]

This was great! I kept getting only hexagonal bokeh and couldn't figure out how to get round. I did what was instructed with success! Now no more hexagons. Thank you so much!

[mariairmasaiz]

thank you for this simple-to-follow tutorial. It made taking photos with bokeh effect so easy. I applied the tips this morning and was rewarded with great photos right at our backyard!

[chefenriqueavargas]

Such an amazing educational video on how to do Bokeh properly. This has indeed helped me to have an understanding on how to do it. I was practicing with an 85mm on a D3S, I will try the 50mm today to see how it comes out. Thank you for taking the time to do this video.... Very helpful indeed, you've found a new fan in me.

[jonjon]

Thank you for putting this video together.

[annie]

I did what you said and it worked! Got the bokeh effect and I'm thrilled‼️💯

[margot]

This is one of my favorite videos on Bokeh in the woods. Also, your video has the same dappled light/bokeh behind you!

[vishven]

Perfect. Just the thing I was looking for. Thanks for putting up this video.

[Tustinman]

excellent tutorial. I follow your instructions and I got anazing results. Thank

[jacktoddy]

Excellent video - common sense really for us 'steam-radio' photographers. But if we all had common sense then we would all be genius’s. Many thanks for a great tutorial - I found it more than useful.

[ipsofactoraj]

Love the way you explained in such a simple way 👍

[pramanaputra]

I love it how you explain the technique and tips, thank you so much... 👍

[marieriddick]

Nice video, with great explanation on bokeh, thanks for sharing.

[CPedalDancer]

love it! thank you. Will try tomorrow

[thejwchannel]

Thanks school, very good vid. Big hi from Australia!