Christmas Light Bokeh: Let's make shapes!

 One of my photography-related Christmas presents this year is a Bokeh kit. I've wanted one of these for a while now, but didn't really have any reason for it - that's what Christmas is for! I've posted previously some shots I took using Christmas lights to get that nice bokeh effect, but there's only so much you can do about the shape of the bokeh, as it's based a lot on the sensor for your camera. In order to alter the shape of the lights, you need to place something over the front of the camera lens. You can create your own cut outs in different shapes to alter the light, but I've never really had the patience to do that. So, bring on the kit! It comes with over 20 differently shaped cut outs that I can place over the lens and change the shape of the light. It was then just a matter of finding a subject and the right cut out...and here's what I came up with!

The necklace was my Christmas present from the kids - they picked it out for me themselves! I absolutely love it, and have worn it every day since Christmas. I thought making the lights look like flying birds behind it worked quite well.

However, that didn't accurately show my love for the necklace....but hearts do! 

 I even had a couple of "mistake" shots with the filters that I ended up really liking. I took the above photos with the filter on my 50mm lens, as that has the most wide open aperture of any lens that I have, which is ideal for this effect. I thought I'd try it on my new lens, but it didn't work as well as I'd hoped (I couldn't focus in far enough)...but I like that it resulted in a heart shape around the entire photo!

 And, it's possible to take photos of the lights even without any focus object in the front. Beautiful!

I can't wait to put these effects into play in the studio for portraits!