Last year a friend of mine commented on these pictures of Levi that I had posted on Facebook. She wanted to know how to get the Christmas lights in the background to form the funky orbs of light. It was nice that I could actually tell her how to do it and it wasn't just a happy accident!
Apparently the term for it is bokeh ...I learned that on good 'ol PW's website. Last year she had a little photo contest and people posted different types of bokeh. I was amazed at all the different shapes that people had filmed the light in...and wondered how in the world they did it! Then I came across this post through Pinterest...sweet! I couldn't wait to get some lights up to try it. So, one day during naptime I got some of my old stamping cardstock out and made this filter.
I know...doesn't look like much, huh? I put it on the front of my trusty 50mm lens, cranked up the ISO (800) and aperture (1.8) and pointed it at the tree....and ta-da! It worked!!
After Levi woke up I was anxious to get him and Fonzie in some of the shots...
Sure, the lights look neat, but unfortunately Fonzie and Levi were all blurry. The following day one of my neighbor's loaned me some of her hole punches so I made some new shapes and checked out the site again to see what I was doing wrong. My "subjects" were too close to the tree...the further away from the tree and closer to the camera, the better. So, I set up the tripod (to ensure that things would be less blurry) and got a couple more shots...
Not too bad. But it would probably be better if I could find something that stayed still...go figure, puppies and 2 1/2 year olds really aren't very good at that! I grabbed one of the ornaments and set it down on the stool...there! That's better...just what I was going for!
PS- I bet this would work well with a sleeping baby...if you live in the area and want to get some holiday pictures of your little one, just let me know!
3 comments:
Very cleaver and lovely, precious pictures!
So cool!!! I love these!
Awesome!!!!
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