Bokeh

If you are not a follower of Pioneer Woman, you are really missing out on lots of smiles and inspiration. Inspiration is what us creative types are living for, it is our drug of choice. At least it is for me. I am a visual learner and I love when light bulbs go off in my brain, it makes me feel alive.

I love to read P.W.'s "confessions" because she blogs a lot about her dog, her kids, and her farm. It is life-affirming.

One of my other favorite things is her photography, because, she not only shares her own lovely photography but gives practical and very simple tips and tricks about how to create a beautiful and professional-looking photo.

So, today I am going to share my latest inspirational lesson with all 2 of my faithful followers.

Hi Mom!

Now, understand that I am an AMATURE photographer. I keep my camera close and I snap away at things that I think are pretty, cute, inspirational, or will make others gush and smile. If I like it, I assume there might be another person in the world that might like it too. I am not going to pretend that I know anything about apertures, shutter speed, or any other fancy camera settins, I just like what I like and push buttons until the picture looks like I want.

I learned a new photography word...ready?

Bokeh (BŌ -KĀ) the visual quality of the out-of-focus areas of a photographic image, especially as rendered by a particular lens.

In Jenni's terminology, it is those cool, out-of-focus, lit up thingys in the background.

It just so happens that Christmas lights happen to lend themselves greatly to this phenomenon.

If you love to look at beautiful, inspirational photography, I really encourage you to go to P.W.'s site and check out other peoples bokeh.

You can also visit Flickr to see thousands of breath-taking bokeh pics.

So here are my bokeh pics. Believe me, now that I have learned a little about how to create beautiful bokeh, I'll be in constant search of opportunities.

I am also thinking of leaving my Christmas tree up all year just so I can have this background

I haven't learned every secret but I figured one thing out...

you can use anything for your subject in the foreground

or you can have nothing in the foreground

just bokeh alone

big, soft, aesthetically pleasing bokeh

oh, then I remembered I had more than just white lights. It is just going to be a constant search for chances at bokeh photography, and I'm afraid this obsession may last for a while.