Can this photo be considered to have bokeh?

Question

This photo was accidentally captured by me. Can it be considered to have bokeh? I am confused, because it does not have any foreground in focus.

Asked by Kaustubh P

Answer

The Japanese word Boke (ボケ) or the American spelling Bokeh, refers to the out of focus areas of a photograph. It does not necessarily mean only the background blur, it refers to foreground blur as well. Bokeh is often used to refer to the quality of out of focus blur more so than its presence. In Japanese, Boke Aji (ボケ味) is used to specifically refer to the quality of bokeh. Aji literally means "flavor", so it would be referring to the kind of bokeh...good or bad, clean or dirty, etc.

Bokeh ranges in quality from poor, where blur circles are rough and polygonal with poor uniformity to very high, where blur circles are smooth and perfectly round, with clean uniformity or a slight spheric grade from center to edge. Circular apertures with rounded diaphragm blades generally create more pleasing bokeh, and a slight amount of spherical aberration in a lens tends to create the most pleasing bokeh.

In your specific shot, you do indeed have bokeh. The quality of your bokeh appears to be lower than one would really look for in a photograph. Its a bit rough and the blur circles are not entirely uniform. Your shot is also only slightly out of focus...you might notice better results if you put it out of focus even more, however without a useful foreground subject...bokeh is largely useless.

Answered by jrista

Check more discussion of this question.