Shaped Bokeh!

[ejmccartin]

Originally Posted by piston9

Thanks for the idea - this rocks. We made a 'mickey mouse' shaped one and did some shots - they came out real nice! Have a few more to try, and made a light setup in my basement to make it easy.....

this came out most awesome!

I tried this recently but haven't gotten it quite right yet. It is very simple, but tricky. Have got to get back and give it another try.

[Darkwhorse]

that is great! I actually am going to try this! thanks amy.

[beverlykaytw]

So I used manila folder and cut out with scissors so it was rough and too big but still looks decent. Also off camera flash for a little fill light. A fun technique to know!

[CraigMac]

Originally Posted by FocalFrenzy

In a dimly lit room, clear off a table and put 3 or 4 candles on one end of it. Then place a sheet of construction paper upright (with a shape cut into the center), at the halfway point of the table. Then hold a white sheet of construcion paper a few inches further. You should be able to see the shapes projected through the black paper, onto the white paper. If you could draw a straight line from each candle, through the mask, it would line up perfectly with the light spots on the white paper.

In this example, the white paper represents your cameras' sensor. The black paper represents the mask, and the candles represent the X-mas lights. Being able to see an object placed between the lights and the mask, is possible as long as that object is not a lightsource itself. Focusing on that object helps to put the lights out of focus, thus creating your image. I hope this helps, and I had a fun time demonstrating this for my son. It actually helped cement the whole concept for me as well.

you are a genius. this makes perfect sense!! wow its like everything just focused in for me when reading this. it just sort of snapped in place. it was all blurry for me before.. ok ill stop with the crappy puns now...

[Scheherazade]

I only read about how to do this yesterday and here's my first attempt. It's a self-portrait for my 365 day project...

[mrmikeweb]

Very neat... I gotta try this sometime.

[Preitz]

Stunning, just stunning! Have never seen this before... must remember to try it sometime.

[thewallflowerphotographer]

Some of these are really amazing... I can't wait to experiment more with this! Here are a couple from my first attempt.

[GertSalvet]

amazing photos! love that! thanks!

[JGennuso]

Does this technique work with a Point and Shoot camera as well?

I have a P & S and was able to get heart shaped bokeh...but the lights were FAR away.

I can't seem to get it to work up close and/or with a subject (in focus) in the foreground.