Special effect Bokeh

Not sure how this would work tbh......

Bokeh is about blurred backgrounds, putting something over the lens would potentially affect the whole image.
 
Oh yeah, fun with a circle of black card to fit the lens, cut a single shape (star, heart) as a small shape in the centre. Open the lens as wide as poss, take a pic, you get neat shaped bokeh. Done a lot for weddings, etc. A bit twee, but easy to do. I've still got the cards somewhere, haven't used 'em for ages.
 
Yes I did a snowflake for the cheesiest of Xmas emails. These was a christmas tree in the background and it brought all out of focus the lights up as individual lit snowflake shapes.

Somewhere I will have a pic of it but can't put my finger on it at the moment.

basically though, I cut the shape out of card and sandwiched it between 2 UV filters.
 
Not trying to pick any fights here but I see the same sort of argument as shooting in colour as opposed to black and white even if you know you want the finished product in B&W.

I'd have thought by having a "mask" in place you could potentially limit yourself shoot wise but applying the shape/pattern in PP you have more scope.
 
The card cut out doesn't limit you shoot wise, you shoot as normal. The effect only works if there is sufficient light etc in the background. The effect isn't really achieveable in pp to look as good. Obsidian Dawn has some bokeh effects for download, I've used 'em but they don't look as good as the real thing.

Good idea for an experiment in the run up to Xmas ...
 
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I have absolutely no idea, the Obsidian Dawn ones are 'regular' bokeh. I guess you could replicate that with your own shape and save, not impossible, I imagine.

Edit: see tutorial
 
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Russ77 said:
Not trying to pick any fights here but I see the same sort of argument as shooting in colour as opposed to black and white even if you know you want the finished product in B&W.

I'd have thought by having a "mask" in place you could potentially limit yourself shoot wise but applying the shape/pattern in PP you have more scope.
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What an odd post..

Life's too short to PP shapes into bokeh when you can achieve it so easily with a shaped insert.

And there are very good reasons for shooting in colour (digitally) and converting to black and white later (e.g. controlling the luminance of individual colours, or are you using coloured filters on the lens?).

You should try these things sometime :)
 
Alastair said:
What an odd post..

Life's too short to PP shapes into bokeh when you can achieve it so easily with a shaped insert.

And there are very good reasons for shooting in colour (digitally) and converting to black and white later (e.g. controlling the luminance of individual colours, or are you using coloured filters on the lens?).

You should try these things sometime :)
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Reading some of the replies I think I mis-understood what the OP was asking.

I thought it was about putting a mask on the lens so the image would look heart-shaped but I stand corrected :)
 
Russ, using a card with a shape cut out doesn't make the whole image look shaped (i.e. as in a heart) it only affects the bokeh in the background, making what would have been a circle into whatever shape the cut-out is. The 'shape' of the image is still a rectangle as normal. Cheap and easy to try. Give it a go.
Found these by searching Google
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bagdadcafe/440697861/
http://x0d.xanga.com/e6af856137434269693955/b215120664.jpg

There are tutorials on the internet about making a shaped 'vignette' around an image (eg the wedding couple inside a heart). Don't confuse the two things, they are different.
 
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Photodiva said:
Russ, using a card with a shape cut out doesn't make the whole image look shaped (i.e. as in a heart) it only affects the bokeh in the background, making what would have been a circle into whatever shape the cut-out is. The 'shape' of the image is still a rectangle as normal. Cheap and easy to try. Give it a go.
Found these by searching Google
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bagdadcafe/440697861/
http://x0d.xanga.com/e6af856137434269693955/b215120664.jpg

There are tutorials on the internet about making a shaped 'vignette' around an image (eg the wedding couple inside a heart). Don't confuse the two things, they are different.
Click to expand...

Yeah, now I've woken up I've realised that something put in front of the lens would only have the same effect as the aperture inside the lens.

Remember discussions about the 50mm 1.8 vs 1.4 with the 1.8 having less blades in the aperture which can give a more angular bokeh as opposed to the near-circular effect with the 1.4
 
Check out this amazing video that makes creative use of custom bokeh.

It got me inspired enough to give it a go - but...
All I got was a vignette the same shape as the hole I placed in front of the lens.
I read the 'how to' features and couldn't see what I was doing wrong so gave up.
(tried with a 24-105 on a 5DII, wide open at 24mm)
I can see why you get the vignette; same reason you shouldn't stack filters (they clip the corners).

Maybe it is something to do with focal length???
 
Never tried that but I think you'd have to get the letters laser cut (rather than mess about with a scalpel and a ruler). In theory it should work the same. Open the lens to its max aperture (I used it on my 85mm 1.8 and my 50mm 1.4 - not tried it on any of my 2.8 lenses as I didn't have them when I was messing about with this and the diameter is too big without re-doing). Then focus on something close-ish in the foreground, with the right conditions behind you'll see the bokeh.
 
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DuncanDisorderly said:
All I got was a vignette the same shape as the hole I placed in front of the lens.
I read the 'how to' features and couldn't see what I was doing wrong so gave up.
(tried with a 24-105 on a 5DII, wide open at 24mm)
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What aperture did you use? In this context I think 'wide open' means max aperture not minimum focal length.
A large aperture is presumably used to give low DoF so that the card isn't in focus (like shooting through a chicken wire fence).
 
DuncanDisorderly said:
Check out this amazing video that makes creative use of custom bokeh.

It got me inspired enough to give it a go - but...
All I got was a vignette the same shape as the hole I placed in front of the lens.
I read the 'how to' features and couldn't see what I was doing wrong so gave up.
(tried with a 24-105 on a 5DII, wide open at 24mm)
I can see why you get the vignette; same reason you shouldn't stack filters (they clip the corners).

Maybe it is something to do with focal length???
Click to expand...

At 24mm the DOF is pretty big even at F/4, so you aren't going to get the bokeh effect, try 105mm at F/4 and that should work well.
 
I did this last Christmas, used a craft punch to cut a heart shape in black paper, fitted it on the lens and used the Christmas tree lights for the bokeh.
 
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