Bokeh Nonsense Technique - Mike Browne & Simon Taplin

Hi Mike, I have been watching your videos for years now. learnt most of the stuff from it and I come back to your videos every time I need to refresher's course. You make it so simple and easy to understand. Looking forward to many more videos to come. You ROCK !!!

great stuff.........

I love your work and video's. Learning so much from you. Thank you

Great tutorial, thanks Mike

Hi Mike, great video as always. Off topic I know but what is the screen saver you are using int he opening scene >

Mike and Simon, such a characters!

Congratulations for your awesome videos. Thanks from Venezuela!

So cool. You rock as always Mike. :)

As always, a thoroughly enjoyable and illumnating video.
Very interesting to see the attention to detail given by a pro and rather novel to see Maestro Mike seconded as the gofer for the session! Well done and thank you from DownUnder.

Always recommending your videos to people starting their journey in photography. Keep it up Mike !

I absolutely love the idea of creating beautiful photos out of unpromising ingredients under less than ideal circumstances! Taking stunning pictures when the subject, background and lighting are perfect from start to finish, and one has some top-notch gear to work with, mainly requires the photographer to try and transfer as much of the beauty which sits gloriously in front of the lens for all to see to the sensor; but conjuring up a captivating image out of what at first glance appears to be a heap of nondescript, lacklustre objects is, in my opinion, where the magic of photography really operates, limited only by the photographer's imagination.

What gear did he use?

I loved this video and the bokeh nonsense tip, which also has an excellent name! I'm a cinematographer and I often think about foreground, middle ground and background when I'm shooting, with the middle ground being in focus. Something about having an out of focus element in the foreground gives a pleasing sense of depth. Almost anything can be used for the foreground, whatever is in your way. I can't wait to see what I can accomplish using some drinking glasses the next time I'm filming food!

Excellent videos but how do I subscribe to your e_mails?

Simple, but so effective. Inspiring tips — thanks!

Great idea here. Many of the compositions are found by playing with focal length. What would you in this case if you only had a kit lens with a 80mm zoom equivalent and f/4?

Cool! I actually did that once. I took a photo of a guitar player in a band using 2 pints of beer as the "nonsense".

that was cool

Looks like the glass is about to slide off the table.

If Simon could keep his camera straight, they might have been nice photos. As they are, it looks like amateur hour.

Great video as usual, but, man, that clicky knees are really driving me nuts!!!

Terrific video, Mike. I really enjoyed this video, because I use a lot of 'nonsense glass objects in my own photos, usually taken in my 10' x 10' office, on a glass topped coffee table, or on a mirror ans sometimes a mirror behind the objects. I really enjoy photos that take a minute, or two to absorb by the viewer. Thanks.

I love watching others work gives me a lot of ideas keep upthe work guys

I guess I have watched this video three or four times now and I'm always getting something new from it. I don't think that I would have picked up that bit of blue. My brain would just have automatically edited that out. On this 4th time I was really impressed by the amount of looking and setup work done by Simon before he made that "simple" shot. To be honest, I don't think I would have conceptualized that shot at all. Or, thought of using a telephoto to compress the space to get the reflection of one table into the shot of what was essentially the table behind. The use of the foreground wine glasses to frame the background shot was really brilliant (again not something I would have thought of). I love the talking out of the thought process to make the shot that is really helpful. As an aside, I did see a shot of the roof of the Ship Inn that I thought might be interesting (but I'd have to be there to see if it was really a shot). Loved this didactic approach. Keep up with videos like this. It really makes on think. As always enjoyable but a good learning experience.

THIS IS JUST SICK!!! I am going to the park to practice focal length. think I will just shoot at 5.6 .
Brilliant Taplin ! Sometimes old dogs need new tricks.

Oh, and well done Christina!

Mike, I would like to understand how to add depth to a shot the way Taplin is here. I think I have a rough understanding, but still unsure. How does one add this depth to a shot?

Great video

I noticed this effect yeasterday while shooting butterflies and dragon flies on my property.
I don't think anything came out but it does make an artistic look to ths photo.
👍 for your video 😁

Great! Something to jiggle with in the mind for the future.... I must ask Mike, why is there always food and drink somewhere in the videos? - maybe you take after me in liking food, which is great except for the waistline :-( Always a downside eh?... Great video as usual Mike.........

one bulb lit my jazz vocalist friend Sofia and various other light sources did a lesser job supplying light for the two other musicians that were in the room playing with her. I often manually focus in these environments for reasons i will not go into deeply: I wanted to grab a shot of all three of these wonderful people, but, Sofia was the main focus. I had a choice, 24-70mm zoom, and the usual 50 and 85 lenses with super wide apertures: believe it or not a Taplin appeared in my head to bang out my exposure and from where to stand sit or whatever to achieve it:

I needed speed, iso was at 10,000 already. Monster arsepain sized heavy cameras i use can take on super high iso. I jacked one to 12,800 to grab speed...okay shutter was fast enough. 1 ball of exposure (iso) was sorted

I looked through the 50mm....nah, did not cut it. I wanted some more space. so i took out the whopping zoom lens and tried 35mm....bingo, the focal length was chosen and speed matched it to avoid camera shake. another ball (shutter speed) of exposure juggling was set.

Spot metered because i wanted to ensure light was on Sofia so i opened the aperture wide as possible and inherntly 35mm would give me enough depth...bang, last ball (aperture) of exposure was in place.

meter was reading a little low but it is low in there anyway... and WAMM!! my exposure was ready. if you are just beginning with photography THIS IS THE BASIC STUFF THAT MIKE BROWNE"S COURSES WILL TEACH YOU. NO HE CANNOT COME AND TEACH YOU IN PERSON BUT HE CAN STILL BE YOUR GUIDE> AND WHAT BETTER GUIDANCE CAN YOU OBTAIN IF NOT FROM MIKE BROWNE? LITTLE TO NONE> his courses are fantastic. and have helped many jungle their balls.....of exposure. GET DOWN ON IT. the courses will not cost you and arm and a leg. I've met the man in person and he his the real deal:) cross my Brooklynese heart. Thank you for your wonderful courses MIKE

As Simon was shooting I was thinking of shooting thru the glasses. Maybe further back with F 11. So it appears like the inside of the glass is framing the steak sandwich. My problem at the shoot there would have to be two sandwiches. I would have eaten it. lol.

Wonderful. Really enjoyed.

LOVE IT

Awesome sauce. Thanks for this.

What is your tripod mate!! Looks like it has been to war ! ;-)

Lovely... love it!

Great video Mike. First time here and already subscribed. Love the info. Having been a photographey major in college, many moons ago, I've just recently started aerial photography with a drone and videography. A completely different animal, but just as much fun all the same. Looking forward to going through the library and for future content. Thanks.

Hi Mike. I really liked the video and would pay for courses save for the fact that I cringe at the overuse by almost all of the global population using ‘kinda’ by way of a lazy pause or mild stutter. Replay the video and count the number of times you use it. Other than that... nice one.

Motivating!

Good concept and the method is sound, but so cheap not to make sure that the stems of the wine glass are upright. would look 100% better if they were vertical. angled photos look so cheap. You might as well have the ocean going uphill.

Great tutorial. Simple yet very effective. Thanks for sharing this tip...

Really enjoyed this!

Thank you so much for this

A no non-sense way of presenting photography with your channel. I love it where other photography channels make a big production out of nothing or show too much ego. Keep up the great work you do Mike.

Fantastic. I will definitely try this.
Thanks for sharing sir.