Bokeh describes the quality of the out-of-focus area of an image, but in today’s vernacular, people talk about it as if it’s just the out of focus area and that’s all. Manufacturers have lead consumers to do nothing else but compare the bokeh of one lens to another in side by side comparisons. And truly, who cares? Photographers: here’s the honest fact. People who look at your images are instead staring at what’s in focus instead. For that, there’s a more important thing to think about: Micro contrast.
Micro contrast has more to do with how the subject pops out of the bokeh. It can be achieved with strategic lighting to give a 3D look and further separation by using hair lights and other things. But when you’re doing it organically with natural light, it’s totally different.
Micro contrast is best delivered using a special type of lens — at least in my experience. Those lenses are Apochromatic lenses. And typically you see them made by Leica, Voigtlander, Zeiss, Hasselblad, and Laowa. These lenses are specifically designed to make the in-focus subject pop more and be far more separated out from the background. If you combine this with underexposing the scene a bit more or high speed sync flash, your subject will majorly pop also due to how specular highlights and overpowering ambient lighting works.
Of course, you could do this by adding more clarity and contrast in post-production — but it still won’t really give the same effect. At any given focal length, a 50mm f2 Apochromatic is bound to have more of a pop than a 50mm f1.4 non-apochromatic lens.
So if you really want to have a unique lens and a beautiful look to the image, consider more about how the lens is designed. And personally speaking, I’d probably only reach for Apochromatic lenses. My Leica 28mm f2 is my personal favorite.
The following photos are all shot with Apochromatic lenses over the Phoblographer’s years of testing cameras, lenses, and much more.
