7 Mar

DIY Shamrock Bokeh Lights

DIY Shamrock Bokeh

Tools & Materials:
1. DSLR camera [I am using Canon EOS 60D]
2. Large Aperture Zoom Lens (at least f2.5 or smaller value) with macro function (for shooting tiny dew drops) [I am using Canon EF 50mm f/2.5 Compact Macro Lens]
3. Black craft paper
4. Shamrock paper punch
5. Adhesive tape
6. Dew Drops or holiday lights

With black craft paper, draw a circle big enough to cover the filter diameter of the lens. Cut.
Cut a strip about 1″ wide, long enough to wrap around the lens.
Fold the circle a little bit so that your puncher can get to the center of the circle. Punch out the shamrock pattern. Unfold.
Glue them up with adhesive tape to make a DIY lens hood.

Fit the lens hood snuggly on the lens to cover the front completely with the shamrock-shaped hood.

Set the shooting mode to “Av”, aka aperture priority.

Now, set the aperture to the smallest value that your lens has (f2.5, f1.8 or f1.4) to open up the aperture to the largest opening.
In photography term, this is called Depth of Field (DOF), the bigger the aperture open, the swallower the DOF which means more blurry object outside the focus point.

Find some light sources to take photos, for this instance, it is the reflection on the dew drops. You can use holiday lights too that do not require macro lens.
Set your camera to the biggest zoom value (magnifying) you can and in macro shooting for dew drops.
Either de-focus and point to the lighting source to take a bokeh photo, or, focus at 1 point and let the rest goes bokeh-ly blur.
Happy creating your own bokeh lights!!!