This one sparked a bit of interest over at the Norwegian blog I’m contributing to for the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation. So, I’ll share the story here as well.
I recently bought the lens you see in the image. Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM. Then Mr. Erlandsen pointed me to this.
Before you know it I made this one.
Equipped it with a snow crystal and mounted it on my camera.
Update:
I used some standard paper cutters to make the patterns.
Before you know it the images that have a traditional round bokeh…
…started looking like this.
Some more cutting and shapes and off we go…
All kinds of cool stuff. Christmas tree with hearts…
Street scene with hearts…
And you find my complete DIY Bokeh set over at Flickr.
great affects!
how much did it cost 50 mm f/1.4? 
in EUR 
It retails for about 355 Euro here in expensive Norway…
it’s 340 EUR in Slovenia
But lowest prices are in Germany. Now I only buy there.
I found this blog post through the DIYPhotography website. I am having problems with the bokeh steps and didn’t know if you could guide me?
I’m using a D80 with an 18-135 lens and set to 18mm with a 1.4 aperature (i believe) come out with only my cutout then the rest of the frame is black. Any suggestions?
You need to zoom in to 100 mm or more. On that lens (as far as I know it’s f 3.5-5.6) you can only get this to work in the telephoto end of the lens.
So going all the way out to 135 then setting the aperature as low as it’ll go may work?
Should the shutter speed be anything in particular?
Thanks so much for your fast comment and help!!!
Yes, 135 mm and the lowest aperture you can get should do the trick. But it’s even better if you get a lens with aperture 2.8 or lower.
The shutter speed could be anything, but if you’re shooting hand held it should be at least 1/60. Basically, it is controlled by your aperture. You need the lowest possible aperture, and you’ll get the shutter speed your lowest aperture will give you anyway. One problem is that you loose a bit of light with this trick, so you might want to increase the ISO to 400 or 800. Depending on the shooting conditions.
ah ha! Last night I tried it opening the lens all the way to 135 but the biggest aperature I can get is 5.6…so I decreased to about 70mm but the lowest I can then get is 4. So that’s the issue, I believe, is that I am not able to get a big enough aperature. I saw some lens this morning online, a Sigma 18-50 with a 2.8 aperature so it looks like I need to bite the bullet and invest in another lens. Not just for this of course, but for general portraiture.
I really appreciate your comments. As soon as I get this to work I’ll show you my results!
For portraits I would have considered a prime lens like a 50mm 1.4 or 1.8. They are cheap and usually very sharp. And on the D80 it will turn into a beautiful 80mm portrait lens. And that kind of lens will work very well with the experiment here as well.
But still. For this experiment I would at least have done some tests with your lens at 135 mm and aperture 5.6.