Shaped Bokeh!

[jeanne]

This is sooo interesting...i wanna try it too. But i am also confused. So i think i get that you use the christmas lights....and wherever a light is...the shape you cut out appears (is this right? lol) But how does the rest of the pic happen? Does the cardboard over the lens not cover up everything else? Will this work with a 2.8 aperture?

Amy Rose i was looking at your blog...your pics are beautiful!! You should make the cookies one your Christmas card for this year!!!

[dannyrich]

the bokeh is more visible with lights but it does not neccessarily have to be a light causing the shape to appear.

If you take a look at Wulfs post you will see with teh star that they happen in place of the standard hexagonal bokeh shapes.

they are however more dramatic if they are lit.

[zespri]

can anyone tel me what I should expect to see when looking through my viewfinder?

I bought a hole punch, punched some paper, held it up in front of my lens, and took a pic of my hubby holding a torch (just to test it). But it didn't work. The hole punch only went a centimetre or so into the paper, so there was part of the lens not covered. That could be what I'm doing wrong, perhaps the entire lens needs to be covered......?

[private]

I think you need to cover the whole lens with the paper - I m gonna try when my hubby and kid go to sleep - and after Survivor!

[Spike]

Hey Zespri, try making a larger piece of heavy paper that covers the entire lens, but leave a square opening in the middle .Then you can use the hole punch on a different piece of paper and tape it over the hole in the middle of the lens-cover paper.

Oh..and I did some more experimenting today with my kit lens. I was thinking that I needed to have the largest aperture to get more bokeh and to be sure that my aperture filter was actually smaller than the camera's aperture. BUT I decided to try it with my lens at maximum zoom (55mm and f5.6 ) and it worked . Mind you, my shape filter wasn't very good, and for want of a nice autumn tree dappled in sunlight, I had to settle for a mundane desktop full of clutter...but I'll try to put up some shaped-bokeh results in SYS soon, I promise.

[wulf]

Spike - have you got one of the resulting pictures you can show us?

Wulf

[geedub11]

I really like the shot of the leaves. I will have to try this out for sure!!

Thanks for the how-to

[dannyrich]

Originally Posted by Spike

Hey Zespri, try making a larger piece of heavy paper that covers the entire lens, but leave a square opening in the middle .Then you can use the hole punch on a different piece of paper and tape it over the hole in the middle of the lens-cover paper.

Oh..and I did some more experimenting today with my kit lens. I was thinking that I needed to have the largest aperture to get more bokeh and to be sure that my aperture filter was actually smaller than the camera's aperture. BUT I decided to try it with my lens at maximum zoom (55mm and f5.6 ) and it worked . Mind you, my shape filter wasn't very good, and for want of a nice autumn tree dappled in sunlight, I had to settle for a mundane desktop full of clutter...but I'll try to put up some shaped-bokeh results in SYS soon, I promise.

I had to do it like that as my craft punch wouldnt reach teh centre of teh circle... great minds and all that! lol

I am in the midst of trying to find a plastic lid from a deoderant or cleaning product that fits perfectly on the 50mm to cut the centre square out of and just slot in the shape!

[Calebh09]

Wow, this is really cool. I want to try this out.

[Lakitu]

I tried this too and it was a lot of fun. I didn't go very far with it but I'd love to do something like the cookies and snowflakes shot. That one looks great, as does the OP's cool leaves.