Monday, May 3, 2010

365/123 Affection/2

I was going to do a kiddo-hugs-cat photo, or something to that effect, but then I remembered how some people made DIY modifiers so they can turn the bokeh of their lens into different shapes. Here is how:

Take a piece of black cardboard, posterboard, scrap booking card stock, what have you, as long as it's sturdy and black, and measure out a circle the size of the outside diameter of your lens. Cut out the circle and cut out a heart shape (or other shape, whatever you want your lights in your bokeh to look like) in the exact middle of the circle.keep it about half the size of the whole circle, because you want it to be slightly smaller than your actual aperture, or it won't work right. Tape the circle shaped cardboard to the front of your lens with a little painter's tape, or some other tape that won't leave residue.

Now when you're ready to start shooting, set your aperture wide open. Your actual aperture will be smaller, because your shape will take up some lens real estate and it will block some light, so you'll meter a little darker than usual. Also, your DOF will be a little bigger, so make sure to leave lots of distance between your subject and the background. Make sure to include some lights in your background, or some nice light reflections, whatever works for you. Start shooting! All of this works better if you have a lens hood to attach your "bokeh modifier" to, it's less intrusive and you can easily remove the hood for normal shooting.

Lens and camera settings:
50mm f/2.0 @ f/2.0, 1/50sec and ISO 1600.
Heart Bokeh

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