Project 50 - 2

Project 50 -2: MYOB: Make Your Own Bokeh!

What the bejesus is Bokeh? Well, according to Wikipedia,

"Bokeh (derived from Japanese, a noun boke 暈け, meaning "blur" or "haze") is a photographic term referring to the aesthetic quality of point-of-light sources in an out-of-focus area of an image produced by a camera lens using a shallow depth of field. Essentially, bokeh is a qualitative measure of light distortion in the out-of-focus areas of an image, and is primarily caused by lens aberrations and aperture shape"

Gulp.

In English, it refers to the out-of-focused objects, most commonly in the background, when shooting a subject using a shallow depth of field. For instance, the out-of-focus red light dots in the next pic.



Gotit?

Niiiiice, isin't it? Yeap, good bokeh quality adds an infinitely eye-pleasing effect to otherwise drab and distracting backgrounds.

The shape of the blurred object (bokeh) follows the size and shape of the lens aperture in use. In normal lenses, that means a round circle like the ones you see in the above image.

Sweet, but ultimately boring. Blase. Bleh.

So for today, I'll be doing MYOB: Making your own Bokeh!!

The following stuff were required:

1) 50mm f/1.8II wide aperture lens



2) Cardboard hood with custom bokeh design made from black sugar paper
I know, I know...it looks like crap :(


Hearts seem to be the new black now. I'm all hearts, y'know. What-ever.

3) Light source - fibre optic made-in-China rainbow deco lamp in this case


Speaking of this lamp, it really does put up quite an impressive lightshow.

Damn, 'tis may just be China's best export yet.











Sweeeeeet.

4) place the 'hood' over the lens to create a 'new' aperture
I know, I know...poor thing looks as if it just escaped from the trauma ward...:((


5) De-focus while shooting to make sure everything appears as a blur. Shooting after alcohol or weed not recommended - it gets hard to differentiate between bokeh blur and blur blur.....

The results? Heart-shaped Bokeh!!

















Niiiiiice (I think). Gives a whole new romantic edge to the shot, eh?

Gonna try this out during next year's Valentine's day shoot. Hmmm....

Ok, coming up with some other bokeh designs soon....

Any suggestions?

Proceeding to Project 50 - 3.

Keep an eye out ere kay.