Originally posted by MarkJerling Pretty much, yes. It's one of the reasons LBA starts!
I'm with Mark on this … it's far too easy to be influenced by the results achieved by another photographer who used a specific lens under specific circumstances to achieve specific results … the "soap bubbles" effect from a 100mm Trioplan being a classic example. Just check out the asking prices for such a lens these days!
Take the lens you've got and try it with different subjects at various distances and apertures, but probably most important, with differing distances between the subject and the background!
Find a bright highlight against a dark background and play with your aperture and focus settings to see what effects you can achieve, then use that out-of-focus result as a background with your in-focus subject appropriately framed against it.
An all-manual lens can be advantageous for this … hence the risk of LBA
… but judicious use of the preview function on your camera can often suffice.
In my limited experience, many lenses will give "pleasant" bokeh with the out-of-focus background just at a particular distance. Too close and it's still a jumbled mass, too far and it's nothing at all.
Enjoy