The Bokeh Project - Part 3 — Ben Harvey Photography

It has been a year now since I came up with the idea for this personal project, and it has already evolved quite a lot. Part 1 of this concept looked at making the out of focus light, often in the background of the photograph, the star of the show. This is a nice idea, but the human brain struggles a little when everything in a photograph is out of focus. Part 2 moved this idea on using a tilt-shift lens to create a unique look of bokeh and a selective plane of focus. This allowed me to control where I wanted the viewers eye to go, and it didn't hurt your eyes so much.

For part 3 (and future bokeh projects), I am looking to push this further by using alternative light sources. As the above photograph, I have used burning wire wool to create out of focus balls of light. Obvious subjects are Christmas decorations, which I took advantage of this year - with Brighton's latest editions to the town centre. However to move the project on, I am going to have to think outside of the box. I am currently working on concepts that use off camera flash, glitter + reflective confetti and back-lit rain, which will no doubt be part 4 of this personal endeavour.

Something new for part 3 is also video and time-lapses, which was posted at the top of this page - opening up new possibilities for the project. This is as far as experimentation with video has gone, however I think it has potential.

I couldn't believe my luck when I stumbled upon this arch in London that was completed under-lit by coloured LED's, whilst on my way to photograph St Paul's cathedral one sunrise.

London has a lot of potential for my project, and I have been exploring well-known locations that are lit up at night time. It is finding the time and opportunity to go to London for a weekend though! Inevitably I will take this to Vegas one day, and New York, or any well lit city for that matter.

An interesting idea was to photograph the night sky and selectively pick out one star or subject in the sky. I was hesitant whether this would work, but as you can see from the test below, this effect still works on light sources as dim as stars. I will be exploring this idea further in 2017.

So, this is where I have got to with my experimentation - and there is plenty more to come. I hope that you have enjoyed following the project, and if you would like to know how this effect is achieved - this is covered in part 2 of the project. Link below.

http://www.benharveyphotography.co.uk/blog/2016/3/28/the-bokeh-project-part-2

Thank you for reading, and leave a comment if you like :-)