More bokeh

This image was taken on film, a few summers ago, in Toronto. I was wandering around the then-newly-opened Distillery historic district and noticed the strongly lit water sitting in a storm drain, reflecting the grating pattern.

My friends, predictably, made fun of me for taking the time to stop and photograph a drain. I think I am a source of recurring puzzlement for them when I appear fascinated by things like traffic lights, power cables, or half-constructed buildings.

The image turned out pretty much as I had imagined, although it's worth noting that the cheap consumer zoom lens I used at the time had the effect of highlighting the edges of the out-of-focus areas on the grating. This is generally considered "bad" bokeh; it's more desirable for out-of-focus areas to render as smooth washes of color, or, even better, for the edges of out-of-focus objects to be more faded than the center, so nearby objects blur into each other. Compare to the previous image (of Timmy the Cat).

Another thing I like about this image is its self-portrait aspect: that's my head reflected down there, of course.