John Lehet, Beech Buds and Pine Bokeh, 2017. Clearly, the center of interest in this otofokasu photograph is the out-of-focus pine needles in the upper right, and the way the beech twigs point up to it.
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I wish I could propose a new photographic term in English:
Otofokasu, n., 1. a photograph in which the deliberately blurry parts are intended by the photographer to contribute to the overall aesthetic impression or effect; 2. a genre of photography that concentrates mainly on the creative use of blur.
The reason this would be funny is that ōtofōkasu, as John Kennerdell explains in his new comment to the recent "Funniest Thing" post, is the Japanese rendering of the English "out of focus." We borrow the word "bokeh" (or boke or bo-ke) from Japanese meaning "out of focus blur," rendering the Romanization the way we like; and then, instead of using their own term for it, they borrow the English phrase "out of focus" back from us to mean the same thing. Which is hilarious. So what I propose is that we borrow our loaned words back from them while adding another layer of meaning on top. Omitting the macrons over the o's as being too hard to type.
Pretty soon, this is going to be linguistically complex and obscure enough to be included in actual art criticism. Lol!
Mike
(Satire alert! And thanks to John K. and John L.)
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Not always complex and obscure
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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:
MarkB: "I'm sure satire was intended, but watch out; there will be an English-language social networking phenomenon called "otofokasu" in the time it took me to type this comment. And now, to make this a self-fulfilling prophecy, I've gone and registered the domain otofokasu.top and will set it to redirect here. Enjoy!"
Mike replies: Hey, thanks. I hope you're right. Maybe there will be a groundswell of viral buzz for us out in the connected world.
emptyspaces: "I love all this because it underscores how the same we are, no matter the cultural details."
You say it's bokeh,
I say it's blurry,
You say otofokasu,
I say still blurry,
Oto, fokas, blurry, bokeh,
Let's call the whole thing off.
(With apologies to the Gershwins. . . )
Posted by: Edd Fuller | Monday, 01 May 2017 at 10:20 AM
As a native speaker of Japanese, I have to point out that ōtofōkasu (オートフォーカス) means "autofocus", as in an AF camera. The romanization for "out-of-focus" would be autofōkasu (アウトフォーカス).
Posted by: Eric | Monday, 01 May 2017 at 11:11 AM
Sorry to be the party spoiler, but what's the problem with 'background blur'? Is it because it's two words? Do the vocal cords get too strained, or something?
Posted by: Manuel | Monday, 01 May 2017 at 11:38 AM
I'm not clear about this
Posted by: Terry Letton | Monday, 01 May 2017 at 12:57 PM
Hey, he really did (otofokasu.top; and I typed it correctly the first time).
Posted by: David Dyer-Bennet | Monday, 01 May 2017 at 06:38 PM
I propose DOOF, for depth out of field. Anyone overly into DOOF will hereby be known as a DOOFUS.
Posted by: John Krumm | Monday, 01 May 2017 at 09:04 PM
Manuel: The problem with "background blur" is there is also foreground blur.
Posted by: Edwin | Monday, 01 May 2017 at 10:16 PM
MarkB: Now you have to register autofōkasu.top if Eric is right. BUT, I like otofokasu better (shouldn't the two be interchanged for English speakers?)
Posted by: Edwin | Monday, 01 May 2017 at 10:19 PM
See this: https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/otofokasu/
Posted by: Peter Marquis-Kyle | Tuesday, 02 May 2017 at 01:46 AM
Eric, it's OK, we know what Mike means. For a mind-numbingly literal explanation of the relevant Japanese/English orthography, please see my comment on the "Funniest Thing" post a couple below this one.
Posted by: JK | Tuesday, 02 May 2017 at 09:48 AM
Mike, thank you for this valuable addition to photographic terminology. I've renamed my Flickr album 'Bokeh & Schmokeh' to 'ōtofōkasu': https://www.flickr.com/photos/alex_virt/sets/72157634831822947
Posted by: alex-virt | Tuesday, 02 May 2017 at 11:36 AM
Manuel , bokeh does not simply refer to the blur but to the visual quality of the blur.
Posted by: Khürt Louis Williams | Tuesday, 02 May 2017 at 01:34 PM
These types of images are popular on Flickr's Explore, and I refer to them in my Gallery as "bokeh wash" images.
Posted by: Gustaf Erikson | Friday, 05 May 2017 at 03:22 PM