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DIY BOKEH LENS FULL
The bits of shaped bokeh snowflakes creeping around the snowman were a result of my inability to hold him perfectly steady for the full six seconds. The overall settings for the shot were ISO 100, f/1.8, and 6 seconds. Make sure to cut out a circle big enough to cover the front of the lens entirely and leave enough paper to fold over the edges of your lens so it can be secured before shooting. No flash was used.įor the snowman shot, below, the camera's built-in flash was used to illuminate the snowman. Take a blank piece of black construction paper and create a lens cover. With the Chimay shots above, the shutter speed increased from 1/8th of a second for the circle bokeh to 2 seconds for the shaped bokeh. The background will not need the flash, since it is already bright and made of lights.
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(Another reason a tripod is handy.) You may also want to consider using a flash to better illuminate your subject. Because you will already be shooting with your aperture wide open, you will need to use a longer shutter speed or increase the ISO to compensate. The distances between the subject, the camera, and the background (a lit Christmas tree) remained the same.Īnother difficulty with using a shaped bokeh filter is that it will further cut down on the amount of light reaching your sensor. The only compositional difference between the two photographs below is that the shaped bokeh filter was used for the second one. Unless you are able to cut your shape to exactly the maximum allowable size, you will lose some of the size based on how small you have made your shape. Keep in mind that your shaped bokeh will end up being much smaller than the original bokeh circles. Then you can put the shape over your lens, secure the rubber band, and not have to worry about your camera trying to find focus through the narrow shape.
DIY BOKEH LENS MANUAL
A tripod is particularly helpful so that you can focus on your subject first and then switch your lens into manual focus, which will lock the focus in place. The easiest way to shoot shaped bokeh is to compose your shot before putting the shape in front of your lens. Hang up some strands of lights or go stand in front of your neighbor's tree or house, if you prefer. You will need a background that will render large, circular bokeh, which is why the holiday season is an ideal time for shaped bokeh. You will want to have your subject fairly close to the camera and the background at least twice as far away. You will need to shoot with your lens wide open (the widest aperture available, like f/1.8). Many of the principles are the same as when shooting any kind of bokeh. Now that you are well-armed with your shaped bokeh-making tube and filter(s), you are ready to start shooting.
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