Create Interesting Bokeh Effect – Make Your Own Bokeh Filter

By abdul / yunir

Bokeh is originally a Japanese word for ‘blur’. Now in photography it means the part of the image that is out of focus. In most cases, it is rendered so to create an aesthetically pleasing, blurry background that highlights the subject of the image. We have all seen lovely portraits with beautiful light dots in the background that shows great depth of the image, but many of us didn’t know we can actually create our own interesting bokeh effect by making personalised bokeh filter.  Those lights dots can be manipulated into different shapes or even words to compliment the subject. The good thing is, it is very simple to do. Just follow these steps:

By Fújur

1. Make a fake lens hood for your camera with a piece of dark paper. You can cut a circle the size of your lens (only slightly bigger so it covers the lens entirely). In the middle of the circle, cut out whatever shape you want your bokeh spots to be, e.g. heart or star.

By rob.wiss

By I.Gouss

2. Cut a strip to wrap around your lens, then attach the circle your cut earlier to the strip with parcel tapes to complete the ‘lens hood’.

By hlkljgk

3. Set your camera to its lowest aperture, and snap away! Enjoy your own bokeh!

Here are some great examples of personalised bokeh:

By DaltonKat2

By JS’s favorite things

By James Jordan

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By rob.wiss

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