By Lisa
Have you guys tried this yet? It is so much fun! I couldn't get the foreground object to come out perfectly because the paper with the cutout shape in front of the lens diluted each object and had to do some heavy editing plus turning them black and white to make it somewhat decent. If you try this, let me how it worked for you and any tricks. Happy New Year!
By Isaac Stephens
Not a very creative shape or subject, but I just wanted to try the technique. This image is unaltered from the camera. I found this works better with a large lens than a small one (i.e. 77 mm filter size compared to 52 mm). Other than that, I shot wide open and made sure there was plenty of distance between my subject and lights. Not much to it. Shot wide open, that means largest aperture- small f-number.
Here are the instructions I copied from a friend's blog:
1) Use your lens with the smallest aperture (I used my 50mm f/1.8). You need the smallest aperture lens because you need the lens opening very wide.
2) Cut a small piece of paper just larger than the front of the lens. In the very middle, cut or hole-punch a shape. I have tried a heart, a star, and a snow flake. I used my scrapbooking craft punches.
3) Set up something you can focus on (in my case, I used a few nativity props) and set it up several feet away from a light source (like Christmas lights or candles). You can also create the effect without a prop close up. Just make sure that the light source is not in focus.
4) Set your camera on manual focus and, at the minimum, aperture priority. You will want your aperture, or f-stop to be at it’s largest (the smallest number–I know, it’s confusing!). I used f/1.8. Now, focus on your close subject.
5) When your shot is all set up, slip the little shape-punched paper in front of the lens. You should see the lights in the background change into the shape immediately. Move it around until the shot looks right and click away!
Source: http://betterinbulk.net/2008/12/check-out-this-bokeh.html
