

The contest is now closed, and we received more than 760 photo submissions. It also happens to be a popular buyer request for our commercial stock photo licensing platform, 500px Prime. So we thought it’d be fun to have Luxury Travel (Bonus points if there is a person or people in the shot) be our photo challenge in last week’s contest. Congrats, Stefan, we’ve just upgraded your account!įrom an infinity pool with a view to a heli skiing trip, nothing gets our hearts racing like the promise of a luxury vacation getaway-if money or time were no object, that is.

#500px holiday bokeh photo contest free
Anyone who enters will have the chance to win two months of free Awesome membership! This week’s lucky random winner is Stefan Geyer. To see the new theme for next week, click here.ĥ00px Awesome Subscription Giveaway WinnerĮvery week, we hold a random draw giveaway for all those who enter the contest. You may already have an existing photo that fits the theme, or you can take this as a challenge to shoot and upload a new photo.

Eastern Time to submit your photo as an entry. You’ll have until next Wednesday, December 24 at 11:59 P.M. Using this technique to separate your subject from the background can also allow you to utilize a not-so-photogenic background in your image-but because of its diffused blur, it helps to “highlight” the subject, not detract from it.Want to be featured on 500px ISO? Every week, we’ll announce a new photo challenge theme. When purposely photographed out-of-focus, these normally harsh or bright objects become soft, pastel, diffused orbs of glowing light.īokeh can add softness to an otherwise brightly lit photograph. An often-photographed subject that is an extreme example of bokeh is photographing a grouping of holiday lights or other highly reflective objects. Close-up and macro images of flowers and other objects in nature are also popular subjects to photograph that shows off bokeh in the image. The most photographed subjects showing nice examples of bokeh are portraits. You could also use the Flexible Program mode, choosing the widest possible aperture/shutter speed combination.
#500px holiday bokeh photo contest manual
Manual gives you the ability to choose both your aperture and shutter speed, whereas Aperture Priority allows you to choose the f/stop while the camera chooses the appropriate shutter speed for the exposure. You’ll want to shoot with the lens wide open, so you’ll want to use a shooting mode of Aperture Priority or Manual. Highlights hitting the background will show more visible bokeh too, so if you’re using a backlight, side light or a hair light, the bokeh may be more pleasing to the eye. The more shallow the depth-of-field, or further the background is, the more out-of-focus it will be. You can do this by decreasing the distance between the camera and subject. To increase the likelihood of creating visible bokeh in your photographs, increase the distance between your subject and the background. By increasing the distance between the background and your subject, you can see bokeh in images that are shot at smaller apertures like f/8. A lens with more circular shaped blades will have rounder, softer orbs of out-of-focus highlights, whereas a lens with an aperture that is more hexagonal in shape will reflect that shape in the highlights.ĭon't worry if you don't own a very fast lens. Usually seen more in highlights, bokeh is affected by the shape of the diaphragm blades (the aperture) of the lens. Best Lens for BokehĪlthough bokeh is actually a characteristic of a photograph, the lens used determines the shape and size of the visible bokeh. Many photographers like to use fast prime lenses when shooting photographs that they want visible bokeh in. You’ll want to use a lens with at least an f/2.8 aperture, with faster apertures of f/2, f/1.8 or f/1.4 being ideal. To achieve bokeh in an image, you need to use a fast lens-the faster the better.
