Bokehism - New Movement, Compositional Crutch, Status Symbol or None of the Above?

[Herr Barnack]

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2 hours ago, SoarFM said:

The current philosophy at Leica seems to be they intend every lens to be shot wide open, stopping down only for DoF considerations. And that makes sense, for it would seem odd if they designed every lens to be shot at f8 and opened up only for shutter speed considerations....

Here we are in more modern times and the current state of technology has placed heretofore unknown capabilities into a tiny camera we can carry in a satchel with extreme resolution and sharpness an easy task and these same cameras allow us to explore the unique characteristics of so many lenses and apply them creatively as we see fit. What an amazing time. Enjoy learning and using that new lens.

I don't see how any of the above could be thought to be a bad thing, except maybe by Leica's competitors - although Leica M cameras and lenses are Sine Pari.  They are unique in the world of photography.  

I too spent many a year adhering to the f/64 ethos - and it works well for landscapes.  By comparison, Leica's f/1.4 ethos opens up a whole 'nother world of photographic and compositional possibilities.

 

[pgk]

Taken some time ago on the 35m Summilux pre-FLE wide open. I still can't decide whether I like the result .....

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[hdmesa]

On 4/5/2021 at 9:00 AM, Kwesi said:

Over the last 5 years or so I've noticed an increasing trend...

Where were you the decade before that? 😂

This happened almost at the same time as digital full frame hit the scene, probably around the time of the original Canon 5D ~2005. Photographers went from using medium format to achieve subject separation to fast lenses on 35mm digital cameras rather quickly. 

That said, I remember photographers talking around the camera store counter about fast lens rendering when shot wide open longer ago than that – we just never called it bokeh, it was still in the context of subject separation.

[hdmesa]

As for what Bokehism is – it can be all of what you said in the thread title, but more than that: it's an obsession with the pursuit of beauty.

As an art movement, I would call it a near perfect melding of Impressionism and Realism in the same work of art.

It can make a photo feel transcendent.

Negative reactions to such things are not unlike the ones that met other art movements in the past – questioning the validity of the art due to its departure from reality.

[Kwesi]

26 minutes ago, hdmesa said:

Where were you the decade before that? 😂

Slumbering comfortably under my street photography rock😄

[Jeff S]

13 minutes ago, pgk said:

Taken some time ago on the 35m Summilux pre-FLE wide open. I still can't decide whether I like the result .....

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Sorry, easy for me: a double whammy of the bokeh and limited DOF frenzy. Bokeh balls (ugh) half the pic AND subject (rest of pic?) in varying degrees of focus.  But the bottom half would work better for me as an impressionistic scene. No personal offense intended. I’m anti bokeh ball. 😱

Jeff

[Kwesi]

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12 minutes ago, hdmesa said:

As for what Bokehism is – it can be all of what you said in the thread title, but more than that: it's an obsession with the pursuit of beauty.

As an art movement, I would call it a near perfect melding of Impressionism and Realism in the same work of art.

It can make a photo feel transcendent.

Negative reactions to such things are not unlike the ones that met other art movements in the past – questioning the validity of the art due to its departure from reality.

Thanks for putting this so succinctly - I've come up with fragments of this on my own but its nice to see it as a cohesive statement

[hdmesa]

Just now, Kwesi said:

Slumbering comfortably under my street photography rock😄

And after a long slumber in the city streets, I awoke to a world that was out of focus. 😂

Take a look a the Thambar thread here. The pursuit of photographic impressionism goes a ways back 😎

[Kwesi]

It sure feels that way😄

Will do,

[hdmesa]

6 minutes ago, Kwesi said:

Thanks for putting this so succinctly - I've come up with fragments of this on my own but its nice to see it as a cohesive statement

When we look back at the history of art, we have the luxury of only having to consider the absolute best of every time period – only the best art (or sometimes the very worst, when being the worst makes it good again) survives. When we consider new art going on around us, it can be disorienting because we see both the good and bad. 

[pgk]

17 minutes ago, Jeff S said:

Sorry, easy for me: a double whammy of the bokeh and limited DOF frenzy. Bokeh balls (ugh) half the pic AND subject (rest of pic?) in varying degrees of focus.  But the bottom half would work better for me as an impressionistic scene. No personal offense intended. I’m anti bokeh ball. 😱

Jeff

Indeed, an effect can be interesting, but not necessarily pleasing. Its almost the only shot I have taken to illustrate those balls. I tend to use fast apertures to isolate.

[pgk]

Another example of a fast lens wide-open - 75mm Summilux. Here the oof supports in not being particularly intrusive but still containing 'understandable' elements. Flare adds a warm, twilight feel; photographs are rarely reliant on one technique.

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[Erato]

20 hours ago, Kwesi said:

As some earlier posters have said, a slow lens can be quite capable of producing lovely bokeh.

It's always fun to play around with a brilliant design that embraces a creamy pleasant bokeh and outstanding sharpness simultaneously.
The following samples were taken wide open(last one was ƒ/5.6) with a fabulous lens from 1955.

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ƒ/1.5

 

ƒ/1.5

 

ƒ/1.5

 

ƒ/5.6

Edited April 7, 2021 by Erato

[pippy]

2 hours ago, Al Brown said:

The Summarit is not a Leitz design. Designed by Taylor, Taylor & Hobson (now Cooke) who licensed it to Schneider who in turn licensed it to Leitz, the early ones were labeled Xenon. A classic swirly bokeh lens, an oddball nevertheless, never sharp wide open (only a small central patch), acceptable at f/2.8 but by f/8 a stellar performer - yet totally without the (in)famous Leica 3D "pop"..........Here is a wide open portrait done with my M mount Summarit f/1.5 from 1954 (not me on the photo). I guess the bokeh totally depends on the subject in the background...

Apologies for going off-topic for a moment...

Hi Al. Yes; Thanks! We've touched on the subject of the tightness of the 'sharp' circle back at the beginning of February (in Dennis' "If you could choose only 1 lens..." thread) where I ended up posting quite a number of snaps from the Summarit used at f1.5 - which ended up being my designated lens/aperture selection for that month. As I recall you were going to shoot nothing but your 500m f8 Reflex-Nikkor. How did you get on (if you went ahead with the idea)?

I researched the genesis of the Summarit a year or two ago when, having read quite a lot of discussion about the lens here in the forum, I first thought about getting one. I did even contemplate a TTH-engraved example which appeared locally but in the end decided that Condition counted more than History so ended up with an exceptionally clean 1953 M-mount example.

The only thing in the early history of the Summarit which surprised me (my thanks duly given to some members in the Historic sub-forum) was that although almost all sites state 1947 as the year of Summarit introduction it turns out that there were 103(!) examples built in 1939 - presumably starting-off directly after Xenon production was phased-out during that year.

I've not yet used the Summarit for portraiture so definitely have something to look forward to experiencing there. Although it's almost always used with my M Monochrom I did put it on my 'colour body' a few days ago and the results completely belie the fact that it is, in essence, a 90 year old optical design.

Philip.

Edited April 7, 2021 by pippy

[paulcurtis]

13 hours ago, Jeff S said:

Sorry, easy for me: a double whammy of the bokeh and limited DOF frenzy. Bokeh balls (ugh) half the pic AND subject (rest of pic?) in varying degrees of focus.  But the bottom half would work better for me as an impressionistic scene. No personal offense intended. I’m anti bokeh ball. 😱

 

+1 But i also think this image is made 'worse' by the highlight contrast and clipping. If the background rolled off smoothly with lower contrast then i suspect it would be a bit better. But i see bokeh balls with outlines, green and general nastiness. So in that case the camera had something to do with it, not just the lens

As a still i quite like it, as a one off!

cheers
Paul

[BrianS]

Hard to believe these were taken 17 years ago- my daughter just out of the hospital after major surgery.

The puffy cheeks- from prednisone, quickly settled down- last shot from the same roll of film

Leica Summarit-M 5cm F1.5, wide-open on the Leica M3. I had the Summarit cleaned, which needs to be done every 10~15 years. I clean them myself now.

This lens is perfect for B&W, now- for monochrome. Preserves highlights and shadow details.

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Edited April 8, 2021 by BrianS