DIY Heart Bokeh

How to make some cool lookin' bokeh

My setup or what you should be using:
Body: some kind of dslr (recommended)
Lens: anything wider than f/1.8 so... f/1.4, f/1.2 f/1.0 should work
The shape should be around 15mm wide for f/1.4. If you're using f/1.8, you probably need a bigger shape to avoid vignetting (roughly 20mm)
You'll probably notice your camera will have a harder time focusing because it's shooting out of a small hole so you should increase your iso a little bit. I usually don't have much trouble around iso 640-800
If you decide to use auto focus, for Nikon, use AF-S (auto focus single)
Manual focus is another good option.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• Do
• it
• yourself
• how
• to
• DIY
• Heart
• Star
• Butterfly
• Bokeh
• 50mm
• Nikon
• 1.4
• 1.8

[iminlikewithlost]

@BryantTruong So I have a kit lens for a Canon. 18-55mm EF-S F/3.5-5.6 When you make the heart cut out thing and put it over the lens, I look through the viewfinder and everything is black (because of the cardboard) besides a heart shape. I don't get how you make it not like that. Help?

[BryantTruong]

@iminlikewithlost You need a lens that can open very wide. Perhaps something under F/2.0 The 35mm and 50mm primes are great lenses to use for this project. Anything with with higher F stops won't yield these results.

[hihidemon]

can I take night portrait pics with that butterfly cut out?

[BryantTruong]

@hihidemon Yes you can! just turn up the iso/ lower shutter speeds or use flash... street lamps are great to have in the backgrounds. Try it out!

[babysmellz]

i found this helpful. however, i dont have an adjustable lense so i was wondering how do i do this without a lens you can focus/ unfocus?

[BryantTruong]

@babysmellz a lens without a MF ring will be more difficult, but doable, try holding down the AF button on something either far away from what you want to create bokeh of OR on something close up from what you want to create bokeh of. It helps to focus on a subject that is distant from the item(s) you want to create bokeh of. Hope that helps!

[misskity6]

I still don't understand how it works. how does cutting a shape out in front of the lens make all the background lights that would have probably just have been orbs turn into the shapes???

[Destinatious]

It's spelled "boke" (from ボケ) but we write "bokeh" to show how it's pronounced: "bow-keh," not "bow-kee." Anyway, you can still do this on non-prime lenses. On a telephoto lens (I have the Nikkor 55-200mm) your aperture will not need to be as wide, just zoom in more.

If you have a 18-55mm lens, then you need to make the hole smaller: I found an equation, I don't remember where but your focal length (55) divided by the aperture (5.6) = size of the hole. Basically, make a REALLY small opening.

[Destinatious]

@LiliumCrystal Yes it will; just cut the shape much smaller. :)

[LiliumCrystal]

@BryantTruong So it won't work with my Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5 - 5.6?? how pity >.<

[momswhoclick]

Great tutorial, thanks for sharing. We embedded your video on our blog post about DIY Bokeh, thank you!

[HeartYukitty]

@RevoltPK You could try having an object close to the camera an focus there.The lights need to be far from that.That will probably do it.I've never had a compact though so I'm really not sure..

[RevoltPK]

do i have a chance of doing this with a compact camera? (fujifilm finepix ax280) :(

[Em0cuti3]

can it be any kind of camera ? and then use iso?

[YourPhotoFix]

@AlaFanny Yes, but are in the realm of digital cameras there are different kinds. Point and Shoots, Bridge Cameras, and SLRs which this is aimed at.

[YourPhotoFix]

@iminlikewithlost Try cutting the Bokeh shape larger so that it will allow more light into the lens.