If you stopped and asked some people what the word “bokeh” meant, most wouldn’t have a clue, but we’ve all seen this technique in action before. It refers to the blurry backgrounds in photographs that act to bring subjects in the foreground into focus. Photographers have known about it for years but it wasn’t until the 1990s that the word bokeh made its way to the wider world from Japan, where it literally translates as “blur” or “haze”. Next time you see a photograph with bokeh you’ll understand a little more about the kind of tricks photographers can use to draw our eyes.
