DIY Bokeh

When researching Bokeh online we came across an article called 'DIY - Create Your Own Bokeh', which involved shaping the dots of light in the Bokeh area by cutting out a desired shape in the middle of a 'fake' lens hood. The lens hoods we used were simply created using black card and tape.

The trick is to get the cutout shape the perfect size... if it was too big we either found it had little effect or you got deformed half-circle-half-star shapes, and if it was too small you ended up with a dark border around the photos. However, even when we overcame the sizing problems we were left with the issue that not all of the shapes turned out perfectly; depending on the position of the lights you can easily end up with half formed shapes.

So even though we both came to the conclusion that it is extremely difficult to get a perfect photo we still ended up with some pretty interesting results:

DIY Bokeh Lens Hoods

- Jenny -
f/5.6 1/30s
ISO 800
Out of all the shapes I the firefly was definitely one of my favourites as they came out very defined. This photo was
taken in Downtown Disney, Florida, and I choose to go there as I knew it would be a great place to find interesting
artificial lights and I wasn't disappointed. The main walkway had lights strung across it between the buildings and
this is why you can see a series of linear lines of fireflies. I also like how you still get a slight background, such as the
subtle palm tree silhouettes, that adds interest to the photo without detracting from the lights.

- Jenny -
f/5.6 1/4s
ISO 400
The reason why I love this picture so much is because of it simplicity. I love how the stars almost appear 3D, and find it has a calming effect as they seem to be floating aimlessly right in front of you. This time I also managed to get more of a mix of colours. 

- Jenny -
f/5 1/160
ISO 100
This experiment didn't exactly go to plan but I still love the results. I was actually
using a lens hood with a butterfly shape cut out of it when I visited the butterfly
garden in Harry P Leu Gardens but I found that even though it was easier to achieve
very shallow depth of field in the daylight, it was much easier at Downtown Disney to
get the desired shaped lights due to them being artificial. Here, on the other hand, there
were no distinctly defined lights in the background as I was working with small bits
of light coming through the leaves of a tree. However, although I may not have
gotten my butterfly blurs I did end up with the sort of bubble wrap textured blur
in the bottom righthand corner of the picture which I think looks pretty cool. I was
also so happy with the vibrancy of the colours that I left them unedited.