Do haze and harsh sunlight change how bokeh appears?
Asked 1/5/2012
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I’ve seen the claim that “UV haze and high contrast on sunny days will make any good lens a poor bokeh performer,” and that bokeh looks best only in subdued light. I can understand why harsh, high-contrast light might make distracting out-of-focus highlights more noticeable, but does it actually make a lens’s bokeh worse? And what about atmospheric haze—wouldn’t lower contrast from haze tend to soften the background rather than make bokeh more chaotic?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
14y ago
2 Answers
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Well given that focus and detail are closely related to (local) contrast, higher contrast light ought to give you more apparent detail, while haze, by definition, is going to give you reduced contrast and less apparent detail.
I would say subjectively that a low contrast, out of focus background might produce what we would call a "creamy" bokeh more than a high contrast one. But I've seen gorgeous bokeh, from a 85mm f/1.4 for example, in quite high contrast backgrounds.
I don't agree that it would make a good lens a poor bokeh performer. It might really accentuate poor bokeh, for example in a mirror lens (which you've pointed out in your question I see).
And I agree that haze ought to have the opposite effect to that suggested by the dpreview post.
Originally by user4191. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user4191
14y ago
0
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Lighting and scene contrast can change how bokeh looks, but they do not fundamentally turn a lens with good bokeh into a poor bokeh lens.
High-contrast sunlight can make out-of-focus areas seem busier because bright highlights and strong local contrast make structure in the blur more visible. That can accentuate nervous or harsh bokeh if a lens already has that tendency.
Haze generally does the opposite: it lowers contrast and reduces visible detail, which can make out-of-focus backgrounds appear smoother or “creamier,” not more chaotic.
So the more accurate view is: harsh light may reveal or exaggerate bad bokeh characteristics, while haze usually softens them. But a lens with inherently pleasing bokeh can still produce beautiful results in bright, contrasty conditions.
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