Simon Murray
A creative professional, Simon – or ‘Simon’s Utak’ as he is known on YouTube – is an international authority on the bokeh characteristics of vintage lenses. His YouTube channel has over 28,000 subscribers, while his Flickr images have attracted more than 15 million views. See bit.ly/youtubeutak and bit.ly/utakflickr
Ten years ago, the term ‘bokeh’ was not at all common currency, but now, even quite young smartphone photographers are familiar with the concept of attractive background blur – handset makers often mention it in their marketing materials.
While a lot of phones use clever technology to replicate background blur, particularly when it comes to portraits, there’s nothing quite like using a ‘proper’ camera lens for eye-catching bokeh. Even a sub-£100 portrait prime or a cheap telephoto lens will generate blur as you apply differential focus, but the unique effects you get from vintage lenses are something else entirely. Simon Murray is an authority on the subject, with a popular YouTube channel, so we caught up with him to find out more about this engrossing subject.
‘I’m old enough to have purchased lenses new that are now considered classic, vintage lenses,’ Simon muses. ‘Taking more “artistic” blurry shots with old lenses has been a welcome antidote to the HDR-type images I need to generate for my photography business. Having painted pictures for most of my
