I love my Google calendar, but there is something about having a calendar hanging on the wall that I can’t give up. I have been putting together a photo calendar with a template on HP’s Creative Studio, but instead of pictures of Annie I’m using some of my still life shots. While I was flipping through my photos I remembered that a bajillion of you wanted to know how to make shaped bokeh after seeing my heart tree (bokeh refresher post here). DIY Shaped Bokeh just for you, awwww.
What you need:
A camera that has manual focus
Dark-colored card stock or brochure paper
Scissors
Pencil
Shaped Hole Punch
Rubber Band
Tripod
On a sheet of card stock, trace the outline of your lens. Dark-colored card stock is best because it blocks the light, but white will work at night time.
Draw three “wings” that are approximately 1 inch long, then cut the whole thing out.
Draw whatever shape you want your bokeh to have. I went with a heart, because it’s easy and I am drawing challenged. OR you can use your shaped hole punch here. That’s 10,000,000% easier. I should get one. Anyway, make sure your shape is centered and small – no bigger than a dime.
If you don’t have the hole punch, cut out your shape. I used nail scissors because they were small and precise.
Place the paper over your lens, using the rubber band to hold the wings in place.
I put my camera on a tripod, then switched my lens to manual focus. I shot in Aperture Priority mode and set my f-stop to 1.8. The more out of focus the picture is, the bigger the shapes will be. The paper with the shape cut into it literally shapes how the light hits the sensor of your camera. It’s like magic.
Ta da!
I am going to use the heart picture for my February photo.
This one is for the dog days of summer, of course!
Any questions? Let me know!
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
I had no idea- thanks! I would have never figured this out by myself!
Daisy´s last [type] ..Art for Art’s Sake
I did this but it didnt work! It just made my subject heart shape! So what did I do wrong!?
The heart might be too big. If the photo is somewhere I can see it, link it!
I like the wing idea, most of the other tutorials I’ve seen have you taping the cardboard.
The only other thing I’d add to this tutorial is that you should be using a fairly large aperture lens and open it wide, and you need to make sure the cut out is smaller than that.
Neeroc´s last [type] ..Alright, let’s just do this
Good point! I will add that.
For your dog days of summer one, you should totally add Rigby up front and in focus and have the paw prints behind
I’m totally going to do this!
Angela´s last [type] ..My baby
Thank you! This is amazing and I can’t wait to try!
Hi
Might be a really stupid question but how have you managed to get multiple hearts/paws when you only had one heart on the cardboard….?
Great effects
Fiona x
Wait a minute – I think I get it……the actualy lights on the tree, instead of just shining, because of the heart template the camera sees them as heart shaped….? Is this right?
Thanks
Fiona x
yep, you got it! Every light on the string becomes the shape of the filter.
Thanks Heather….and apologies for the errors in spelling etc. I am actually not illiterate, but you wouldn’t know it from my comment…..
Great photography stuff. Love it!
I couldn’t get my camera to go below an f stop of 3.5. How do I make it go lower with the A setting on?
3.5 is good for bokeh! It all depends on the lens. The lens you’re using probably isn’t designed to go below 3.5. But you should get good bokeh on f/3.5!