Tuesday, November 9, 2010

muse university - i heart bokeh


I love bokeh...gorgeous blurry, round, magical bokeh but with the announcement of this prompt, I knew that I wanted to do something different. I was determined to learn how to make some sweet heart-shaped bokeh.

First, I scoured the house looking for black construction paper and finally came up with a piece of brown paper. Close enough, I was in business! Using the small end of the lens hood from my 35mm 1.8, I traced a circle on the paper and cut a heart in the exact center with my husband's pocket knife. With all fingers still intact, I trimmed the circle a bit with a pair of scissors and taped it to the inside of the hood with some blue painter's tape.

With my family laughing at me for making my D90 look like a school craft project, I headed out in search of bokeh producing light. I shot the sunshine streaming through my bouganvillea arbor. I skulked around the neighborhood after dark capturing headlights, street lights, and signal lights. I punched holes in a piece of cardboard and captured the perfect heart-shaped dots that appeared when I placed it in front of a window. I even dug in the attic for our white Christmas lights and added them to our garden hedges to make more defined hearts that you see in photo above. Our neighborhood lawn crew must think that I have lost my mind.

This filter has been on my camera for several days and I am still having fun with the technique. I invite you to visit bliss and folly to see the finished filter and more photos that I took. Get out and try it, experiment with other shapes, and link-up your own photos to the Linky tool that I have provided at bliss and folly.

For my featured photo today, I selected Rose {heart bokeh} by Marie Rush. She was able to capture multi-colored shaped bokeh. She obviously hearts bokeh, too. :)

Until next time. Stay sweet and try adding some extra love to your photos this week.

♥ tammy lee of bliss and folly

Rose {heart bokeh}
Rose {heart bokeh} by marierush

23 comments:

Justine said...

I love the loveheart background, so clever.

Anonymous said...

awesome. I must try this soon!

oz said...

i love heart bokeh...beautiful! i've seen great shots using stars as well :)

April said...

i heart heart bokeh!!!

Jan said...

Excellent!!! I've always wanted to try this but haven't yet. What fun!

Becky Sue said...

I tried this a couple years ago back when my camera was always set on Auto (it didn't work) and, in fact, I still have the construction paper lens hood. I think I'll give it another try!

aclamp said...

wow i didn't know this could be done with some paper & tape! but why doesn't the whole image come out as a heart?

Jan said...

Awesome photos. Those hearts on top are so clear. I need to try ths.

Faith said...

Heart bokeh is wonderful. Thanks for showing us this.

mosey (kim) said...

Yummy - both of these. If I had a camera this would work with I'd be out there today trying it! Someday....

SnapYappy~Joelynne said...

TAMMY! THANK YOU! This is my favorite post of all time. I always wondered how the heck this was done. The images on your blog are AMAZING! I'm so happy. Seriously. Made my life. Off to try it THIS SECOND! WOOT WOOT! :D

Mary said...

Ummm, I need to try this immediately lol! (I also totally love the post on your blog about this, your writing had me cracking up) I have to wait until my boyfriend gets home from his photography class with my camera!! Until then, I'm off to get my craft scissors and construction paper to make little heart-shaped filters!

Marie Rush said...

Thanks for the shout out!

GailO said...

So much fun! I can't wait to try it! Both of the photos are beautiful...

blue elephant photography said...

oh my gosh i want to try this! i love both photos!

Holly { Soupatraveler } said...

oh, this is so cool! i've always wondered how they did this too! will have to give it a shot! thanks!

Chelsea said...

What a fun project! Adds a fun sweet twist to the photos!!

Anita @ GoingALittleCoastal said...

This is so cool. But I'm going to need more of an explanation on how this happens! I'm a little slow ;)

Suki said...

beautiful heart bokeh. I love it!

urban muser said...

great job tammy! so creative and fun.

Jen said...

Awesome. I will need to try this too. Beautiful photos on your other site too!

Kirstin said...

Tammy, this is a wonderful post! You've got to love hearts!

Mary said...

Back to say that I tried it, I'm hooked!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mtheginger/sets/72157625375577240/with/5171966821/

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