Make Custom Bokeh Shapes : Tips & Ideas

Make custom Bokeh shapes in the way you want – Heart Shaped, Square, Tree Shaped or according to your Need. But there are many more points, learning them will probably help you to get the most creativeness out of you; instead of copying the prototype Photographs. First, you need to know what is Bokeh in Photography and then, How to Create Perfect Bokeh With Your DSLR and Prime Lens.

So, few things getting granted in our Tips & Ideas to Make Custom Bokeh Shapes :

1. You Need a DSLR to Get More Control
2. You Better Need a Prime Lens (Canon EF 50mm F/1.8 II is the cheapest in this class)
3. Well, the Diaphragm Blades matters – we need pure round shaped hole, not octagonal or Hexagonal hole.
4. Two indispensable Guides – Manual Modes of DSLR and What Camera Mode to Choose Depending on the Situation
5. Apart from these points to Make Custom Bokeh Shapes, one will need extra guidance, we have written that part below.

Make Custom Bokeh Shapes : DIY and Ready to Use Aperture Mask

Well, if you cut out a heart shape on a black thick paper and wrap the paper on the front of the lens, so that the cut-out heart’s center remains exactly on the optical axis of the Camera’s lens – you will actually get great Heart Shaped Bokeh. This is the basic of creating DIY Aperture Mask to make custom Bokeh shapes.

On the other hand, Universal Kit of Aperture Masks with various hole Shapes to make custom Bokeh are available on the market for 50mm, 52mm lens with filter thread. One of the known company is Factory Bokeh. They have 16 plastic shapes and it cost $22. Although the price $22 is not very small, but the professional grade ‘mounting’ and varied shapes with the exact placement of the shapes are quite good – if you for some reason love custom Bokeh Shapes.

Make Custom Bokeh Shapes : Tips & Ideas

Obviously, you need to give importance to some points, from the technical point of view to make custom Bokeh Shapes :

1. Adjusting Depth-of-Field : A low aperture value produces short depth-of-field, and consequently a larger blurry portion of the image. The rule to make better bokeh is to determine the proper depth-of-field rather than always choosing the blurriest background available. This factor gets magnified with a small hole; i.e. Aperture Mask to make custom Bokeh shapes.
2. Get the Right Lens : Apertures which utilize more blades or have curved blades will produce more circular-shaped light bursts in the bokeh, while apertures with more octagonal openings produce a similarly-shaped light burst.
3. Composition : Composition is the most important point to utilize custom bokeh shapes.

DO NOT Follow Guides to make custom bokeh shapes on WikiHow like Websites. The wisp of the paper fibers, which might not be visible on naked eyes, can damage either the diaphragm mechanism or the sensor. You can read Tips written by Darren Rowse and Other Known Persons.
If you, for example need a Letter as shape (A or V or P), you need to buy a cheaper lens cap and make a hole of that shape with hot metal sheet (like using a cookie cutter) or wrap the lens with a bigger paper (or cloth) with custom cut-out shape over the lens (fix in position with rubber band).