The sun
was rising. Vivid rays of sunlight were shining on my bedroom window. The melting
snow and ice on my window pane inspired me to investigate with my camera…
Instead
of creating sharpness in my pictures, I decided to experiment with bokeh. In
photography, the term bokeh is used for points of light or blur, created by
out-of-focus* areas of an image. Therefore, the points of light don’t appear as sharp-outlined objects in the image. The points of light take the shape of the aperture of the lens within the image and repeat themselves. It depends on the lens and the aperture how much the bokeh will be round or polygonal.
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| Bokeh lights on my window |
These
points of light or blur may have an aesthetic quality, if used properly during the
creation process. In other words, the beauty of bokeh relies entirely on the imagination
of the photographer. I used bokeh intentionally in my pictures, coming together
with natural fractal patterns on my window.
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| Natural fractal patterns coming together with bokeh-effects |
The
heavy black background is created by the bright rays of the sun: the sensor of the camera squeezes the incoming light to the minimum due to the extensive flare. The dazzling
lights that stand out like brilliants, seem to explode from the surface due to
the bokeh-effect: the reflections of droplets of melting snow and ice in the
out-of-focus areas*.
Simultaneously, the meltdown constructed an intriguing
natural fractal pattern on the smooth surface of my window. Fractals
are mostly common in math and computer simulations, though they appear by
themselves in nature as well.
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| More natural fractal patterns created by the meltdown and the bokeh technique |
Fractals are self-repeating shapes in all their randomness, which seem to reach a paradox in themselves: they typically appear in seemingly chaotic systems. In other words, the organization of patterns is present within the randomness of chaos itself. Fractals are therefore irregular in nature, and unpredictable, while still creating order when they reveal themselves.
Both
bokeh and natural fractal patterns can be used as a technique or appearance
within photography, to illuminate a world, perceived by the beholder, only as a result of the photographers’ imaginary eye.
*The out-of-focus areas of the scene lie outside the depth of field. The depth of field refers to the range of distance in front of and behind an object, from the nearest to the farthest point, within the reach of the camera. Only objects within the depth of field of the camera will appear sharp in a photograph.
