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Most photograhers are concerned with lens sharpness. The ability of a lens to produce image sharpness that far surpasses the ability of the human eye. However there are other important qualities to think about in a lens. One of these factors is lens bokeh ( pronounced “bo” as in bowling and “ke” as in kept). This is a Japanese term meaning out-of-focus blur especially seen in background of images. The out- of- focus area outside the depth of field (DOF) of the lens at a specific aperature (f-stop). The lower the f-stop number (larger the aperature) the better the bokeh. Quality bokeh has a smooth transition between the in focus image and the blurred background. It usually is the lack of bokeh that distracts your eye when looking at the main part of your subject. Start looking at your images more carefully and notice if your background distracts your eye and takes away the quality of the image you were trying to capture. The solution is to use a lens with a low f-stop value or use a telephoto lens to create spacing between you subject and your background. Great images are a subjective issue. However you can really elevate your quality by concentrating on the quality of your Boteh. Study your images carefully and be critical of your work. Then correct your background blur and you will see a noticable diffenence in the quality of your prints.