Thank you for stopping by, I'm Rebecca, the one behind the camera and mother to Theo the little lad you will see a lot of on this photography blog.
I take photos purely for the love of it. There is always a story to tell behind the moments I capture and this blog is the place where I bring it all together - the photos, the back story and I'll share a few hints and tips about how I took the image along the way. I am a photographer on a journey, I know where I started but where it ends - who knows! For now I am just enjoying the ride.
Please leave a comment on one of my photos so I know you've stopped by and if you've a question there is a 'contact me' link at the top of the page.
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Dear Rebecca,
Thank you so very much for this tutorial! I thought this must be so diffucult or I have to buy an expensive lens, but this way is so easy!
It was the first time that I went out of my automatic focus:-)) Thanks!
But I have got a question: How can I make it that I focused something in the foregound, and in the behind is the bukeh?
I hope you can help me?
Snowy greetings from Germany Melanie
thanks so much for this! will definately be trying this tonight…
Hi Melanie, if you focus on the foreground object (probably use auto focus for this) then make sure your tree is quite far back at least 1-2 meters you should still get the effect. You may need to use flash here to get the foreground object exposed properly. Good luck! Rebecca
Thanks for sharing this info and your wonderful heart-shaped bokeh shots, which I originally saw in Picture the Holidays class! I tried this using some black fun foam that I had left over from another project and it worked great. I also added a little tab on one side of the circle to make it easier to pull the disc out of my lens. My husband watched this little evolution taking place, and the next day, he had cut me a disc with a little keyhole shape in it–men! LOL! So far I’ve done a star shape, but also want to try out that keyhole and maybe a spiral shape. Thanks again! Love your images!
Thanks Rebecca for sharing this wonderful and helpful advice. I’m going to give it a try and I’ll post my results afterwards. Seems easy enough!
I tried this without much luck so far but my camera will usually not go past f4.5 if I am lucky to get it too that. one day i saw 3.5 but i have no idea how. I like the way that you did the black paper. I tried mine as a tube over the lens.
Lenses all have limitations. Zoom lenses have a range of F/stops. For example, yours is probably 3.5-5.6. This means at your shortest focal length (not zoomed in at all) the widest you can open your aperture os to 3.5. If you are zoomed all the way out, you can only set it to 5.6. If you want to shoot below 3.5, you need a faster lens. If its something you are interested in, I’d recommend the 50mm 1.8. It’s a cheap option for hobbyists and beginners to want learn how to work with a shallow depth of field.
[...] Getting this heart shaped bokeh using Christmas tree lights is really easy and fun – I did it the cheat’s way and my little tutorial is here. [...]
Thanks for sharing…I am so looking forward to trying it!!
Thank you so much Rebecca for revealing this bokeh mystery. I can’t wait to try it myself.
Happy Holidays!