2.14.2011

Heart Shaped Bokeh

My friend Maya and I were talking about bokeh a few weeks ago, and I mentioned how much I loved the heart shaped bokeh I'd seen in a few flickr pictures. I wondered aloud "how do they do that?" Bless Maya's heart, she looked it up and sent me a link. Why didn't I think to Google "heart shaped bokeh" before?


heart bokeh maker

So here's the skinny, since the tutorial was kind of vague. Using black construction paper, I cut a three inch circle to fit the diameter of my 50mm lens. In the middle of the circle, I cut out a 1 3/8" heart. The heart in the tutorial appears much smaller, but I think the heart has to be big enough not to crop your view through the viewfinder. I cut a 10"x 1" strip for the cuff, then wrapped it snugly around my lens and taped the strip to form a circle. I taped the cuff to the circle, slid the contraption over my lens, and got to snapping.

A few details:
Aperature 1.4.
Shutter speed variable depending on light meter.
Focus blurred to various degrees to adjust size of bokeh.


single heart bokeh

al fresco

tree with heart bokeh

almond branch with heart bokeh

red berries with heart bokeh

a boy and his dad

I'm having too much fun with heart shaped bokeh, and I'm dreaming up all the different shaped bokeh I can make with this simple technique. Thank you Maya for the inspiration! And happy heart day to everyone!

27 comments:

  1. i don't actually quite & totally capture this, but it looks oh! yummy....
    love hearts, of course.
    thanks for the tutorial, i will shape up on it!

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  2. That is so so cool. How does that work!? I would think you would just end up with a heart shaped print. I'm going to have to try it!

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  3. delicious. i love them.

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  4. sooo incredible!
    love this molly - great photos as always xo

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  5. so cool! i had no idea one could do something like this. happy heart day. ;)

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  6. totally doing it...as we speak!

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  7. neat! and here i was thinking it was just a lucky jiggle of the camera (like in the december picture here.)

    happy valentine's!

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  8. So fun.
    plust this takes me back to high school physics some how or another

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  9. Lovely! I just sent a link to this post to my photographer friend. Thanks, Molly. Happy heart day to you too!

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  10. So very Rad.

    Thanks for the bokeh reminder, it's one of my favorite things.

    Happy Heart Day to You Molly!

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  11. This is so cool! I don't understand it but it's beautiful.

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  12. OH MY GOSH!! I'm so in love with this!! I must have one!

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  13. You are just amazing. I love how you can take a simple shape like a heart and apply it to both your crochet and your photography--and get jaw-dropping results.

    That you got a string of heart-lights in that last shot is just magical.

    Happy Valentine's Day, my friend!

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  14. these are great molly! i'm gonna have a go at that myself. thanks for the inspiration. sending love love love!

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  15. wow
    who knew you could do such a thing...

    this is just fabulous.

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  16. This is incredibly cool, and that new header is really gorgeous too!

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  17. oooh! what a smart girl. I googled lens baby because that is what so many are talking about on flickr. they do have the kits that do this, but this is so convenient and affordable....very smart!

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  18. sounds like you have the 50mm 1.4, i just got it for Christmas and LOVE it.

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  19. Cut and paste....my fav type of project. I'm totally trying this. Thanks for making it so easy.

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  20. I am so trying this! You make it look faily easy!

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  21. Oh, I'm going to try this out. The kids I teach will love this technique too. Thanks.

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  22. You're so generous. Thank you for sharing this.

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  23. eeek! okay hello love - i'd forgotten all about this technique. doing it this weekend! your photos are fab!!

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  24. SO excellent! Got to get to trying this! Can you see the heart shaped bokeh when you are shooting, or does it just come out in the result? Want to try with my film camera...

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  25. I've been wondering how people do this! Thanks for the post!!

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  26. thank you so much for sharing this! i linked back to you after i tried it. http://marybethrew.earthhuggy.com/2011/03/photo-heart-fun/
    it's SO cool and i think half of the magic is that, well, it's magic! i have no comprehension how this works, but i am sure having a good time playing with it! thanks again!

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  27. I wouldn't have known what to google as I didn't know that was what they were called!

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