Shaped Bokeh!

[mseigafuse]

thanks for this thread amy-rose, this is fun

I had to try it. This is just a test/playing around shot, so not nearly as nice as amy-rose's work, but here goes anyway

[FGPhotography]

That is phenomenal! I am sooooo inspired to do that later this evening with the halloween lights we have up :-D

[FGPhotography]

Well I -was- going to try this, but I can't find my hole punches OR construction paper! It's kinda funny how whenever I don't want to find my daughters craft stuff I find it, but when I want it, it's nowhere to be seen!!! Tomorrow's another day, maybe I can do it tomorrow night.

[zespri]

Has anyone done this using coloured paper? I don't have black paper, so used coloured. But I can't get it to work, my lights just look like lights, no shape to them. When I look through the lens, I vaguely see the shape of my star around the edges, but mostly just my subject. Is that what you folks see? And should I be focusing on the light, or something else? *scratches head*

[wulf]

Focus on something else. Do you know how to do a "bokeh" shot? You would use that kind of set up - focusing on a nearer subject and allowing the narrow depth of field to cause the background lights to blur - but the mask will give them shape.

Coloured paper might work but black is probably better - stopping light going through and also stopping it reflecting back from inside the camera. You could always go over your mask with a black marker pen.

Wulf

[mseigafuse]

Originally Posted by zespri

Has anyone done this using coloured paper? I don't have black paper, so used coloured. But I can't get it to work, my lights just look like lights, no shape to them. When I look through the lens, I vaguely see the shape of my star around the edges, but mostly just my subject. Is that what you folks see? And should I be focusing on the light, or something else? *scratches head*

I had to play around a bit too, I had my subject too close to the lights at first and got no shapes on those. Once I moved the subject further away from the lights I saw the shapes.

[mnchevygirl]

I have tried and tried this with no luck. What settings are best for this type of pic? I shoot in av mode. I have a canon rebel xs with a kit lens. Am I not able to do this with the kit?

I have a star shape paper punch that I was wanting to use, but I can never get it smack dab in the middle. What is the best way to create the mask?

My first attempt:

EXIF:Exposure: 0.5 sec (1/2)
Aperture: f/5
Focal Length: 40 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire
Focus Mode: AI Servo AF
Metering Mode: Evaluative

Second attempt:

EXIF:Exposure: 0.4 sec (2/5)
Aperture: f/5
Focal Length: 41 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire
Focus Mode: AI Servo AF
Metering Mode: Evaluative

[wulf]

Originally Posted by mnchevygirl

I have tried and tried this with no luck. What settings are best for this type of pic? I shoot in av mode. I have a canon rebel xs with a kit lens. Am I not able to do this with the kit?

I took a scan through recent pages on your Flickr account but couldn't see any circular bokeh examples. I think the problem is that your subject is in focus and you need the candles in the out of focus zone. I'd suggest practising to get normal bokeh first and then moving onto shaped bokeh later.

Wulf

[temp0]

I tried this out last night and after a few tweaks I somewhat got the hang of it. What I did was set the mode to Manual, shutter speed ~ 1/20 (I tried other speeds but I don't think it matters) and aperture to f/1.8. After that I set my focus to Manual as well, and made it so everything was out of focus. As soon as that was done, I got the shape of the heart!



However, I'd like to know if theres another (more correct) way of doing this. When having the auto focus on, I can't get the bokeh to work and I'd like to at least have one picture where I have something in the forground that is visable with bokeh behind it.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that it doesn't matter if the sheet is black or not. I made mine using a white card stock and it worked perfectly.

[frankj]

I've seen this before, but my god! Why didn't I think to make this so simple (i.e., just tape the cutout to the front)!