Lindsay Craig
- Dec 20, 2020
- 5 min read

December: Artist Spotlight - Gina Yeo

Hard to believe another year of this project is almost finished. As I am sure you know by now, bokeh has become a tradition for us to end the year with. With all the magic bokeh can add to an image, it's a perfect fit for this time of year. I am excited to announce that our Artist Spotlight for December is Gina Yeo! When I think of Gina's work, I immediately think of all the bokeh she includes in her images, and how she captures it in a variety of ways. Check out what she has to say!

Tell us about your photography journey...

My photography journey began when I was a child. My father was our family photographer and always had his camera in his hand. My childhood summers were spent camping and chasing the Canadian Pacific Railway trains through the Canadian Rocky Mountains, my father’s passion. I’d follow my father with my little film camera photographing wildlife, colourful flowers, sweeping rivers, and whatever caught my eye. As I grew older, my camera accompanied me during special events and vacations. It wasn’t until I became a mother, though, that my interest in photography developed into a full-fledged passion that, to date, has me picking up my camera almost daily. Today I’m an avid keeper of my children’s childhood moments as well as a passionate landscape photographer. I also teach and mentor mom photographers and female landscape photographers through online and in-person learning opportunities. Photography is my passion and is intertwined with almost every part of who I am. I love being a photographer.

In this image, the bokeh was created by a glass lampshade with drop style crystals placed over my lens.

Tell us a bit about your style...

I believe that one’s photography style is ever-evolving, and this is certainly true for me. However, I do and have always adored light. Light is my ultimate passion within my photographic technique, and I never grow tired of finding and working with breathtaking light. I’m also drawn to simplicity in my photography. I prefer clean, quiet frames with thoughtful compositions. I like images with colour as well as environmental portraiture. I’m also not opposed to creating art, and I enjoy the process of post-processing in both my child and landscape photography.

The background bokeh in this image results from the use of freelensing at an aperture of f1.4. The foreground bokeh was created by a feather placed very close to my lens.

What gear do you use?

Nikon D810, D610
Sigma Art 14mm 1.8 (primarily used as a landscape lens)
Nikkor 16-35mm f4 (which is my primary landscape lens)
Sigma Art 35mm 1.4
Nikkor 50mm 1.4 (which I use mostly for freelensing)
Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8
Nikkor 105 f2.8
And many accessories like landscape filters and creative tools like a prism.

The background bokeh in this image is a result of a shallow depth of field. This image’s aperture was f2.8.

What's your go to lens and why?

My go-to lens for capturing my children outdoors is the Nikkor 105mm f2.8. This lens has an excellent reach so my children can run off and be themselves, and I can photograph natural moments. The bokeh and flare from this lens are also super dreamy. My go-to indoor lens for capturing my children is the Sigma Art 35mm f1.4. This lens is super sharp and works well in low light. My go-to landscape lens is the Nikkor 16-35 f4. It’s a workhorse and captures my favourite landscapes in the Canadian Rockies in a beautiful way.

This image was captured with my Nikkor 105 f2.8. The sparkle bokeh is the result of backlit snow being tossed up while I captured the image.

Who and what inspires you?

Nature is where I find my inspiration. I’m happiest outdoors camping underneath or climbing a mountain, exploring a forest, kayaking out on a cold glacial lake in the Canadian Rocky Mountains or generally breathing in the fresh air, preferably somewhere in the mountains. Nature is my ultimate place of rest and rejuvenation, and when I’m immersed in the elements of nature, I’m at my happiest and always inspired to pick up my camera.

The foreground and background bokeh in this image result from a narrow depth of field and the use of a telephoto lens. This image was captured with a focal length of 200mm and an aperture of f3.2.

What tips do you have for shooting bokeh?

The simplest definition for bokeh is blur. In photography, the best types of bokeh infuse a soft artistic touch and help isolate a subject. Bokeh done well can help draw attention to the focus area in an image as visually the strongest areas within an image are not blurred but in focus.

The background bokeh in this image is due to my subject being a significant distance from the background.

Bokeh can occur naturally or can be intentionally infused into an image during capture or in post-processing. There are many different types of bokeh. There is aperture, colour, tree, circular, rainbow, glitter, snow, water and light, to name a few. Naturally occurring bokeh in an image is the artistic byproduct of aperture choice, the focal plane, light, the photographer, or the subject position. Intentional bokeh can come from the purposeful infusion of elements into a frame that creates bokeh—for example, shooting through objects like a bundle of weeds, tossing up snow in a backlit scene, or holding an object like glass or a feather up to a lens. Intentional bokeh can also be infused into an image during post-processing, most often through the use of overlays.

The light bokeh in the foreground of his image is due to shooting through a backlit tree branch.

Bokeh is easiest to achieve using a wide aperture such as f2.8, f2.2, f2, f1.8 or wider. Bokeh can occur in the background or foreground of an image. Wide apertures result in a narrow depth of field, which blurs the foreground and background elements outside the near and far focal plane. For this reason, bokeh can appear in the background or foreground of an image.

This bokeh in this image results from me tossing snow in front of my lens while I captured the portrait. The snow is also backlit, which makes it glow.

Background bokeh can be enhanced when there is distance between your subject and the background. Locations where your subject is close to the background will have less blur in an image than a scene in which a subject is farther away from the background, using the same aperture. Moving closer to your subject will also result in the enhanced foreground and background bokeh.

The foreground and background blur in this image results from a wider aperture, and I was relatively close to my subject. The settings on this image are ISO 640, 105mm, f3.2, 1.500SS.

Different types of lenses can also influence bokeh in an image. A telephoto or a longer focal length will result in more bokeh blur at the same aperture than a wide-angle focal length.

This image was captured at a focal length of 200mm.

Bokeh is an attractive and highly sought-after effect in many genres of photography. Keep in mind that wide apertures, with a subject pulled away from a background and the use of longer focal lengths will result in increased background bokeh. Foreground bokeh is best attained by placing your camera or an object very close to your lens while photographing your subject. It’s great fun to experiment with different types of bokeh. Don’t be afraid to get creative!

The bokeh in this image was created by shooting through an umbrella-shaped lampshade made from glass crystals.

What bokeh image are you most proud of/love the most and why?

I always come back to one single image when asked this question. This image is where my journey and exploration into my love of bokeh in my images began. It’s the first image where I sat down at my computer and connected strongly to an image because I felt like I’d captured who I am as a photographer within the frame.