A photoshoot with a drawback + A bokeh tutorial [EN/ES]

Don't you guys feel like when your friends and family find out you have a camera (and you're not afraid to use it 🤣), they all magically want you to take pictures of it? I don't know about you guys, but I do.

This is not necessarily a bad or negative thing, as we can take advantage of these moments, to try new ideas, styles, and techniques, without feeling pressured. After all, we are in confidence.

If you want to know why I'm telling you this, stay until the end of the post 😉.

This is Evelyn, my first cousin, blonde, tall, blue-eyed. I with Chinese ancestry, black hair, and brown eyes. Nothing to do with each other. Genes 🧬 are capricious sometimes. For this session, we planned to meet in Centro Habana and from there we moved to the outside of the city, near La Puntilla Shopping Center. On our way to the location, we found a park with a big tree in it. This was the perfect motif to start the session, as its bark served as a background and contrasted with the model's yellow dress.

Since this technique saved my day, I want to explain in 6 easy steps how to get good bokeh.

1. The lens: The larger the focal aperture of your lens, the easier it will be to get this bokeh. As you know, I use a Canon 50mm lens with a focal aperture of f1.8. So I had this first aspect very well covered.
2. Shooting mode: Select manual mode if you are an expert or semi-automatic Av, so your camera will let you set the aperture and compensate the rest of the values (exposure time and ISO) automatically.
3. Set the focal aperture value as small as possible (larger focal aperture, smaller f-number). In my case, I set f1.8.
4. Framing: Aim at your subject and frame it, remember the rule of the thirds, planes, and cuts in photography.
5. Focus: This step is fundamental. Make sure the focus is on the subject, preferably on the subject's eyes (if you are photographing a person). Remember that increasing the focal aperture decreases the depth of field, so it is very easy to get out-of-focus images. Use a tripod if necessary.
6. Shoot and go 📸.

Ya que esta técnica salvó mi día, quiero explicar en 6 sencillos pasos cómo obtener un buen bokeh.

1. El lente: Mientras más grande sea la apertura focal de tu objetivo, más fácil será obtener este bokeh. Como sabes, yo uso un lente Canon 50mm con apertura focal f1.8. Así que tenía este primer aspecto muy bien cubierto.
2. Modo de disparo: Selecciona modo manual si eres experto o semiautomático Av, para que tu cámara te permita fijar la apertura y compense el resto de valores (tiempo de exposición e ISO) automáticamente.
3. Coloca el valor de la apertufa focal lo más reducido posible (mayor apertura focal, menor número f). En mi caso coloqué f1.8.
4. Encuadre: Apunta a tu objetivo y encuadra, recuerda la regla de los tercios, los planos y cortes en la fotografía.
5. Enfoque: Este paso es fundamental. Verfica que el foco está sobre el sujeto, de preferencia sobre los ojos del mismo (si es que estás fotografiando a una persona). Recuerda que al aumentar la apertura focal disminuye la profundidad de campo, por lo que es muy fácil obtener imágenes fuera de foco. Usa un trípode si lo crees necesario.
6. Dispara y listo 📸.

This last portrait 🔼, because of its lights and shadows, I really liked it, so I asked Evelyn to take one of me. The settings were already set in the camera, so she framed and took this picture of me, which I used for a while as my social media profile.

Este último retrato 🔼, por sus luces y sombras, me gustó mucho, así que le pedí a Evelyn que me tomaro uno ella a mi. Los ajustes ya estaban establecidos en la cámara, así que ella encuadró y me tomó esta foto, la cual usé durante un tiempo como perfil en redes sociales.