Stop Hiding Behind Bokeh: Why Wide Open Portraits Can Become Lazy Photography
Somewhere along the way, photographers started acting like the only way to shoot a portrait was wide open with the background completely out of focus. You know the look. Subject standing there. Lens at f/1.4 or f/1.8. Background turned into a soft milkshake. Little dots of light floating around like the photographer discovered fire for the first time. The face is sharp-ish, one eye is maybe in focus, the ears are gone, and the entire image screams, “Look at my lens.” Now, don’t get me wrong. Shooting wide open has its place. I own fast lenses. I use fast lenses. There are times when shallow depth of field is exactly what the photograph needs. But here’s where I have a problem: when photographers use wide open aperture as a default, not as a decision. That is where it becomes lazy. Not always. Not every time. But often enough that we need to talk about it. Because a portrait is not automatically better because the background is blurry. A portrait is better when every part of the f...
