One effecct that many of our readers experiment is creating custom Bokeh shapes. It’s a fun DIY little project for a rainy day – this video tells you how to do it.
The video is by Lucas Ridley.
Further Reading on this topic: Aperture Mask – the Many Faces of Bokeh.
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31 Responses to “DIY Photography Project: How to Make Custom Bokeh Shapes” - Add Yours
September 6th, 2010 at 1:56 am
Wow great video I always wondered how people did this. I bookmarked this for a a rainy day
Thanks for sharing
September 6th, 2010 at 3:14 am
I saw a page on shaped bokeh in the DPS forums and decided I would make my own kit. My aunt owns a scrap booking shop, so I stopped there and got some quality paper and used her CNC paper cutter and punches to make my set. I used a 2″ punch to create the circles and a 62mm step-up ring to mount them to my lens. You can see some of the cutouts below:
September 6th, 2010 at 4:22 am
i love custom bokeh shapes!
i have a protective UV filter on all my lenses, so all i did was cut out the circles to fit snugly within the sides of the filter, and did away with the supportive ring around the lens.
it’s fun doing all shorts of shapes, but for some reason, my favorite is the simple square.
here’s a set of some of my attempts: http://www.flickr.com/photos/toomanytribbles/sets/72157617857357730/
September 6th, 2010 at 5:41 am
Very interesting video, had no idea about that.
And btw, toomanytribbles : great photographs!
September 6th, 2010 at 6:27 am
@dok thanks!
September 6th, 2010 at 12:07 pm
Wow! Thanks for posting my video! And thanks to everyone for watching!
September 6th, 2010 at 5:10 pm
If you already use Cokin/Lee filters, everything is much simplier — you just need 89x89mm (for Cokin P) piece of black paper, cut desired bokeh shape as shown in video and insert it into filter holder.
September 6th, 2010 at 5:46 pm
You certainly can get some nice effects. I did the same as toomanytribbles cutting some black card into a circle and fitting it into a UV filter which was attached to my 50mm lens. I used one of my wifes craft paper punches to punch some designs into the paper. For my first attempt I hung up some christmas lights and this is what I got. http://www.flickr.com/photos/garryandhelena/2974379732/
September 7th, 2010 at 2:54 am
Hi Everybody,
I read toomanytribbles’s comment about DYI shapes on DPS and actually sent her a short message with a few special links that might help her as well.
As an afterthought, I think…. heck, why not sharing this with everybody here. Maybe there are a few people who haven’t heard about it yet. So…here is my share about a system that is already on the market for at least 30 years. The system is called COKIN and the originally idea (so many years ago) was to have only 1 (one) flexible creative filter system that could fit on all lens diameters with adapter rings.
The system itself is at: http://www.cokin.com/ico1-p1.html
The DIY special filters used in this holder) are at: http://www.cokin.com/ico3-p1-8.html
If you don’t know already about COKIN, then their website is definitely worth a visit.
No… I AM NOT promoting here something on behalf of Cokin. I’m just a loyal user who appreciated the creative filters in an analog age when digital filters like the ones from Nik were not on the market yet.
Hans Maerker
September 8th, 2010 at 7:44 am
On a rainy weekend in Paris, I had some fun doing just that. I did one called Bokeh Love.
http://martinsoler.com/2010/06/03/bokeh-love-hearts-candles/
I found out that the cutout in the cardboard needs to be quite small to get the effect. A too large cut out doesn’t work.
The biggest “pain” was getting the cardboard piece to fit properly. Note: I put it in my UV filter, in order to get it out easily again, tape on a little tag that you can use to pull it out.
September 8th, 2010 at 12:39 pm
Playing with light is much fun
September 9th, 2010 at 6:51 am
@hans maerker the cokin kit looks very useful with all those filters, but just for the custom bokeh it seemed a bit too much for me — i prefer a little black construction paper and my trusty knife or paper puncher.
@martin soler — i tried taping a bit of paper, like you recommended, to get the paper out of the UV filter, but eventually found it much easier to just fold the circle towards the edge and crease it, in order to always have that bit sticking out of the filter. the crease didn’t show up on the image at all.
the size for the hole can be larger if your lens features a large aperture — i used a 50mm/1.4 lens or a 100mm/2.8.
oh — i should mention that these custom holes, in effect, make the final aperture for the image smaller, necessitating longer exposures than if they weren’t there. setting the camera down on a steady support or tripod helps a lot.
September 18th, 2010 at 1:00 am
Thanks for all the tips, everybody! A fun and creative article. I’m looking forward to giving this a try.
September 18th, 2010 at 3:42 am
will this work on a 18-55mm kit lens? i’ve tried doing these before but the effect didn’t work. Just wondering if it’s because of my lens or my cutouts. thanks
November 6th, 2010 at 3:15 am
I would also lean towards using a paper puncher just for a neater look. My hand isn’t too steady when it comes to such delicate cutting!
December 14th, 2011 at 2:10 am
I love all your tutorials, re-read & practice them. I would love to have more details here. Beginners require shutter speed, ISO settings etc, or was it ur intention for us to practice & find out? Thanks, this article has intrgued me & I will try..
December 14th, 2011 at 2:48 pm
http://www.flickr.com/photos/morfordsmedia/6482496237/
This was our first try. We took this photo before this post though, so I am sure that it will get much better.
December 15th, 2011 at 8:09 am
Thanks for everyone’s comments about my tutorial! I’m glad some find it helpful.
@Dona – I could do more tutorials on basic stuff if that’s what people want. I just have never gotten any requests for a specific subject to cover. Is there something specific you’d like to see?
December 15th, 2011 at 9:40 am
Hi,
How fast need the lens to be? I only have F/5.6, is this OK? I tried but I can’t achieve it…
Thanks
December 16th, 2011 at 2:58 am
Wonderful !
love this vid very much
December 30th, 2011 at 3:25 am
Nice useful video, liked the tip on the comments about mouting directly onto the UV filter. Off to give it a try.
February 29th, 2012 at 7:20 am
Thanks for the tip. I tried out some of my own shapes here:
http://www.icecreemdreem.com/2012/02/28/diy-photo-trick-bokeh-shapes/
xx
KK
December 8th, 2012 at 10:36 pm
Why do i FAIL?! I made the cup, put it on and shot with wide aperture and 85mm, but what i got was that you like see through the shape – all around is black and the bokeh lights are normally round… Please help
December 10th, 2012 at 12:33 pm
Whatever google search I do, it always seems to lead me back to DPS!
December 11th, 2012 at 3:05 pm
I’m missing something here, once I have the bokeh filter and I take the shot of the light, then what? In the tutorial you have a cool shot of multiple hearts floating off your hand, how did you do that, is it all post editing, combining the images in photoshop?
December 12th, 2012 at 2:46 pm
@marry – sounds like you’ve made the cutout too large, also make sure you’re pulling the focus ring in to it’s closest focusing point and the lights are a decent distance away from you.
@danielwb – nothing was done in photoshop, that photo is all in-camera. Let me know if you have another question specific to the process.
December 14th, 2012 at 2:27 am
Hi sorry to bother you but i just made one of those bokeh cutouts things for my camera but everytime I take a picture I just get a normal picture with no shapes (:
any ideas on what I am doing wrong? any ideas are appreciated!
thanks youuu!! (:
December 14th, 2012 at 8:51 pm
Hey ive been experimenting with bokeh effects with this time of the year and this is a really usefull tip, and you said about having the cutout as close to the glass on your lens as possible, well if you/people have the money a lensbaby + creative aperture set and you can cut the shape into the disk and have it risht in the lens and get some really nice shots (i dont own a creative aperture kit but i am thinking of purchasing for my Lensbaby)
December 16th, 2012 at 1:47 pm
I don’t think you people are bright enough to pull that off safely..?
December 16th, 2012 at 1:48 pm
I ment that comment for a smoke video that played after this one…
June 19th, 2013 at 1:57 am
I create this bokeh just with my kit lens for the first time, and it was really great experience.
http://abacreation.blogspot.com/2013/05/bokeh-in-photographybeginners.html
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