Someone I know recently got a new camera. Her son is teaching her photography. She mentioned "shallow depth of field" and I suggested she should ask her son about "bokeh". Here's the conversation that followed - am I being too harsh? Who is teaching the kids these days?!?! Son: Bokeh is the fancy term for things that are out of focus. However I usually hear it used primarily to described out of focus highlights or lights that become more like orbs. For example the bumper/credit for Focus Features is a focus pull of several different color lights. However, Bokeh can be used to described all blur/haze in out of focus areas of an image. Me: bokeh is not a fancy term. it's something real and transcends "stuff out of focus". it's "how appealing stuff out of focus is". don't deprecate what 100 years of photography learned before we switched from film to digital sensors Son: I am not saying it isn't a valuable part of creative composition of an image. I just feel that the word is not commonly used to describe shallow depth of field in everyday discussion of imagery. Making it to me, a fancy word of academia that most only know as out of focus highlights and not a general description of lack of focus in photography. The word I feel no longer is used properly or often enough to make it as relevant anymore. Me: I hope bokeh isn't commonly used to describe "shallow depth of field", because that would be incorrect usage. It's used to describe how *pleasant* out-of-focus things look and is as relevant as ever as a key attribute of a "good" lens - it isn't a "fancy word of academia" and that it isn't "used properly or often enough to make it relevant" reflects more on who you're talking about it with: see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokeh Dana K6JQ ============================================================================================================= To unsubscribe from this list, go to www.freelists.org and logon to your account (the same e-mail address and password you set-up when you subscribed,) and unsubscribe from there.