Shaped Bokeh!

[chopstickjayne]

Originally Posted by wulf

Shaped bokeh can also work well when used subtley. By dint of accidentally leaving the star bokeh disk on my Lensbaby, I discovered that it can also contribute to a picture when the bokeh isn't the main feature but just an extra detail. Eg. (click to view larger if you want to see the stars more easily):



Wulf

I have loved looking at this thread - although I've yet to try it - looking at your picture, Wulf, I fell in love with this concept all over again! I LOVE happy "accidents" like this and yours turned out to be truly inspirational! Thanks for sharing this! I've really got to try this!

I do think for the lighted bokehs, the best results seem to come from the shapes that were made with paper punches - so I'm off to do some shopping!

Thanks!!!

[Crossfire905]

Originally Posted by jocelynaz

Wow! Thanks Amy for sharing! I had never even heard of "shaped bokeh" before.!

Heck, I had never even heard of a "bokeh" at all until I saw the word in another thread here, with pictures of a flower, and figured maybe someone just didn't know how to spell "bouquet." [No, I've never taken a photography course.]

Bokeh... An effect made by cutting a hole in a sheet of paper, like an artificial aperture in front of the lens? Noted for future reference! I'll definitely have to try it sometime. I never would've thought of something like that.

All kinds of fascinating shots in this thread!

[Crossfire905]

Originally Posted by wulf

The shape you put over the lens affects every out of focus blob of light.

Just in case it hasn't been done -- I haven't read the entire thread yet -- perhaps someone could post before-and-after pics; i.e., one with all of the necessary settings except the bokeh over the lens, to show the blobs of light in the background, then one WITH the bokeh for comparison to show what it does to those blobs. Seems to me that'd probably clear up any remaining confusion. [If there is any.]

If someone has already done this, then... Nevermind. I haven't read the entire thread yet.

[anthonyjstewart]

Gosh I am amazed at how easy this was and how much fun.

I have a 50mm 1.4 here so I attached that to my 5D2. I then cut out a piece of card using my UV Filter as a template. I drew a small star in the middle of the piece of card and cut it out with a box cutter. I then stuck this piece of card onto my UV filter.

I had the lights on in the kitchen and took a picture but nothing to see although I thought one of the ceiing lights looked a bit star shaped. So I popped upstairs and pulled some Christmas lights out of one of the boxes, plugged them in and bundled them up onto the kitchen counter with a washing up liquid bottle in front and turned the light off in the kitchen.

Thing to note is that it is best to use Manual Focusing on your lens to achieve the best effect. Worked here anyway.



This really is very clever and I would never have thought you could even do this in a million years. Photography has so many aspects to it and this site is a real boon I have to say.

Sorry about the liquid bottle, I know not very imaginative )


Here are my before pics:

[krstlchik]

This looks like a lot of fun. I need to try this with my 50mm/1.4!

[chopstickjayne]

Practicing with Bokeh - I was getting frustrated because I couldn't see the Bokeh butterflies in my camera LCD after taking the shots. I finally just downloaded the pictures to my computer to see if I could understand what was happening when looking at the shots on my monitor. The following is what is happening - the lights I'm using are Christmas tree lights but covered with a translucent ball of twine. The end result is posted below - I was disappointed because when I bought these lights I thought the whole ball would come out in the shape of a butterfly, not just the brightest point of light inside the ball. Does anyone know why this happens AND if there is anything I can do to make the whole ball look like a butterfly? Perhaps I should make the room even darker for higher contrast between the room and the lights...use a bigger butterfly cutout...would a longer shutter speed make any difference? I guess if there's nothing I can do about this, I could always get the creative juices flowing and work with this effect somehow. I do know my mug is out of focus and underexposed - I'm still working on the rest of the set-up. This really is a little more complicated than I first thought.

THANKS!


Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/1.8
Focal Length: 50 mm
Exposure: 0.00
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off

[wulf]

Try a slower shutter speed. The mug looks underexposed; I wonder if, with allowing more light in, the butterflies would expand rather than just showing for the brightest portion of the lights.

Wulf

[chopstickjayne]

Originally Posted by wulf

Try a slower shutter speed. The mug looks underexposed; I wonder if, with allowing more light in, the butterflies would expand rather than just showing for the brightest portion of the lights.

Wulf

Well, I thought we might have been on to something with the shutter speed - I have an example below - I can tell you that the longer the shutter was open, the less pronounced any of the butterfly effect became - the lights just got more blown out. I think I'll have to find another use for these pretty lights...

Thanks for the suggestion, Wulf. I'll keep working on it...but, if anything happens to hit you while you're tossing and turning and unable to sleep thinking about my bokeh problem, I'd love to hear your ideas!

Thanks, again! This is been frustrating but fun! I'm still planning on getting a capture outdoors while "accidentally" leaving my butterfly bokeh thing-a-ma-jig on the lens like you did - hopefully, I'll get something as dreamy as yours!


Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Exposure: 0.5
Aperture: f/1.8
Focal Length: 50 mm
Exposure: 0.00
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off

[jphoto]

Thanks for the how-to!

[constructivecriticism]

That first shot was absolutely incredible. Very detailed cut, too.