How do you achieve bokeh?

Question

what settings should you set your camera to, what are the easiest things that appear when shooting bokeh, etc.

Answer 1

Distance from the subject, aperature and lens focal length all affect depth of field. So use a longer lens with a wide aperature. Remember 1/3 of the area in focus will be in front of the subject and 2/3 behind. If you can place the subject further from the background rather than closer.

notice how the background on the right shows more bokeh

http://www.eyefetch.com/image.aspx?ID=90...

Answer 2

To acheive good bokeh or a shallow depth of field what you need to do is to set your aperture at the largest setting (small number) like F1.4 or F2.8.

The larger the aperture the shallower the DOF will be. A shallow depth of field means that items that are close are in focus while items further away are out of focus. If you do any macro shots you will see this very easily.  

Answer 3

Well the easiest thing to appear when shooting bokeh is circles. Bokeh is the quality of the out of focous area and the circles are caused by light that is out of focous. So to achieve bokeh you need a shallow DOF and for the light to be behind your subject!!