Post your Christmas (bokeh) lights pics!

jeremycnwy · Dec 13, 2009

took this shoot at a Chick-fila infront of their christmas tree. it was my little cousin's second birthday party.

Wolverinepwnes · Dec 13, 2009

didn't put alot of time into it but here goes nothing:

cheers

im_jacobf · Dec 13, 2009

I really like the shape of the bokeh there Wolverinepwnes, pretty awesome.

Wolverinepwnes · Dec 13, 2009

thank you! the heart shape is not as smooth as i wanted them to come out

Flems · Dec 14, 2009

iBats · Dec 14, 2009

y0aimee said:

love these two shots especially the second even though it is a bit dark, still they are both really nice

mrredline05 · Dec 14, 2009

My first post on here. I'm very new to the DSLR scene. Heres my christmas pictures. Were shot with a Sony Alpha A300

rocdoc · Dec 14, 2009

figured for this thread the bokeh itself should be the subject...

chris miss · Dec 14, 2009

Here are my attempts. I just played around and finally got some to work; others didn't work. I'm not sure how to get the effect all the time. These are from my 100mm lens. I tried with my 50mm but didn't succeed.

1.

2.

3.

Where can I find a good explanation on how to get this effect (consistently!)? I also think I need more lights on the tree. Thanks. I've enjoyed this thread.

Stosh · Dec 14, 2009

WimFoto · Dec 14, 2009

most excellent composition on this one christine.:thumbup:

3.

Pugs · Dec 14, 2009

chris miss said:
Here are my attempts. I just played around and finally got some to work; others didn't work. I'm not sure how to get the effect all the time. These are from my 100mm lens. I tried with my 50mm but didn't succeed.

1.

2.

3.

Where can I find a good explanation on how to get this effect (consistently!)? I also think I need more lights on the tree. Thanks. I've enjoyed this thread.

All three of these were shot with a very large aperture (f/4 on the first two, f/2.8 on the third) which is what you need to do to create the shallow depth of field needed for this type of shot.

Basically, that's all there really is to it. Make sure that you're using an aperture thats wide open enough to blur the background significantly. Specular highlights (points of light) show the bokeh better than most anything else. Depth of field is what blurs the background. Bokeh is the quality of that blur; the softness of the blur, how round it is, how circular, etc...

So, put your camera in aperture priority mode. Dial in a small f/stop number (wide aperture) and then focus on an object in front of and far enough away from the background for that background to blur out.

I hope that helps!

In terms of these pics, the white balance appears off in all of them, otherwise you've got great compositions here! Especially that third one! I love it. The composition is fantastic and catching the lights in the mirror was inspired! I'd rotate it a bit so the lamp's stem is straight up and down, but you've done good work here!

chris miss · Dec 14, 2009

Thanks, WimFoto, for the compliment!

So, Pugs, if I were to use my 50mm f/1.8, I would keep the aperture nearly wide open. I did that, but the tree was a little too much in focus. I think the distance of the focal point (snowglobe or ornament) from the tree is important, too, right? I should have it a fair distance from the tree itself, otherwise the tree would be in focus, too. Correct? I guess it's a matter of shooting over and over until I find just the right spot.

I appreciate your explanation.

Pugs · Dec 14, 2009

chris miss said:
Thanks, WimFoto, for the compliment!

So, Pugs, if I were to use my 50mm f/1.8, I would keep the aperture nearly wide open. I did that, but the tree was a little too much in focus. I think the distance of the focal point (snowglobe or ornament) from the tree is important, too, right? I should have it a fair distance from the tree itself, otherwise the tree would be in focus, too. Correct? I guess it's a matter of shooting over and over until I find just the right spot.

I appreciate your explanation.

Yep. You need to have the point of focus far enough in front of the area that you want blurred out.

You can use a depth of field calculator to help you figure it out. Throw down some Google-fu on "depth of field calculator" and you'll find several online that you can use. Basically you plug in your camera type, your lens focal length, how far away from the lens your point of focus is and it will tell you how far in front of that point of focus and how far behind that point of focus things will be in acceptable focus. To achieve this kind of blurring, you have to make sure that the background is well outside that distance.

In a case like the mirror, you count the distance to the mirror PLUS the distance from the mirror to the object being reflected.

chris miss · Dec 14, 2009

I just Googled it and found a place that gave me the following information for a 50mm f/1.8 lens. I arbitrarily chose the subject to be 5 feet from me and the aperture set at 2.8:

Subject distance 5 ft
Depth of field Near limit 4.85 ft Far limit 5.16 ft Total 0.32 ft In front of subject 0.15 ft (48%) Behind subject 0.16 ft (52%) Hyperfocal distance 152.8 ft Circle of confusion 0.019 mm
So does this mean that the tree behind my focal point only needs to be more than 5.16' in front of me to obtain the bokeh effect? That doesn't seem to be much farther than the subject. Does that have to do with the fact that it's a 50mm lens? I won't be trying it tonight, but I will play around with it tomorrow. Thanks for the tip.