Bokeh Filter Turns Blurry Lights Into Distinct Shapes

@FiveseveN: Thank you, sir.

Pixlmonkey

Bokeh =/= Gobo, people, the hell?

Pixlmonkey

This is a pretty old trick. You can just use any old piece of thick paper and do it yourself for near free. They say to use a piece of black paper at [www.diyphotography.net] but I just use a piece of white paper folded in half. Works fine.

@diverguy:
No kidding. That girl is HOT!

The_Bronze

or you can just do it yourself: http://www.diyphotography.net/diy_create_your_own_bokeh

ShubhadaTelemachus

Is there a Unicorn shape?

@teamlouish: yep, i'll stick with doing that

O3DigitalBath

And then there's the bukkake filter which isn't safe for work.

RogueWarrior

what little hearts?... who's the girl? she's pretty!!

Gag.

operator99

@Rob:

Shallow DOF is a cheesy trend? The highlight shapes are very cheesy.

al12345

Unless it's like $5 I would go for this:
[www.diyphotography.net]

MrSilva

the Alienskin Bokeh plugin can do the same thing in photoshop

Joe St. Louis

It's like those Christmas tree glasses taped to my camera!

@OMG! Ponies!: I'm still waiting for a good macaroni border feature

Tenno

you guys can all make fun, but I bet the girl in the photo thought it was cute and the guy that took that photo wound up getting some.

diverguy

Can you say... kitsch?

My Canon SD970 IS already does this.

curlycarlos

Stop mocking this. It's a tremendous time saver.

Do you know how much time, money, and effort I spend on printing out my digital photos and sprinkling glitter and sparkle-hearts on them?

This will pay for itself in no time.

Does anyone know if there is a Photoshop equivalent of this effect? Frankly, it's kind of kewl and I would have use for it, for example, when retouching photos for sweetheart or anniversary cards.

yup, the idea is old =.= spend your 10$ on a ton of black paper

bobo2211

How is this different from the "Christmas lights" paper glasses you wear to make Christmas lights look like Santa? Oh, wait, it isn't.

@roy8000: "The bokeh normally assumes the shape of the aperture opening through which the light enters the camera. That means it's normally a circle or a close approximation thereof as the iris forms hexagons or octagons as it gets closed down further and further. The blur makes it appear roughly circular. In this case though, you would take your wide-aperture lens and leave it all the way open at 1.7 or whatever...and the "aperture" is then decided by this cutout which you stick in front of the lens. That usually means you get the equivalent of f/22 or something, and not a circle but the shape you placed in front of the lens.

The reason you need a wide aperture lens is so that you can still allow a reasonable amount of light in and so that there is enough out of focus area to actually make the effect of the cutout shape visible and obvious. Point and shoots have very short focal lengths and so very little out of focus area, thus, they can't use this trick. It doesn't *have* to be a heart either, it could be a star or triangle or...whatever really"

By "bikehorn86"

Scotland

@roy8000: Same here. I see a lot of comments in the new comment system just disappear, leaving a lonely reply to not make sense anymore.

The easiest and best guide to making your own filter holder and attachments: [eirikso.com]

If you get stuck, leave a comment and the author will almost always respond and help you out.

Alex Richards

This really isn't anything new. I've created homemade apertures for my D200 that accomplish the same thing. Although this does seem to make the process a bit easier.

I think its cool but its not new... well, its the first time im hearing of a lens for DSLRs or SLRs that does it but Canon has it built into some of their point and shoots and has had it for quite some time.

@se.blackheart: Yes, sorry, you should probably keep them hidden.

Soooooooo, does it make blurry penises as well? Or boobies, yeh that's better boobies!!!

LouisJebber

Oh how trite. Look for a software version of this feature to hit the the app store in 3-2-1 .....

Brau

@The Donut Pirate I was gonna say, didn't lifehacker post that guide? lol

Is there a filter for turning a large group of hookers into a church?

Just askin'.

kangaroo

The Lensbaby has had drop in shaped apertures (and blanks for you to make your own shapes) for a while now.

[lensbaby.com]

LittleJon

@Shamoononon: It's really hot today.: i see that...why are there crayons in your poo?

A lot of point and shoots do this already with a setting. It's better to do this with software than hardware anyway.

umijin

@SysRq: Uhhohh_??

i don´t see any coment?

@se.blackheart: I just crapped on your carpet.

@bikehorn86: Hm, for some reason I can't promote this very well written, very informative comment. Perhaps replying to it will bring it to the surface where it belongs.

Bokeh has always been an aesthetic element of photography.

Nice way to take a cheesy trend and cheese it up even more.

Gotta say, "naturally" isn't quite the word I'd use for this.

I probably would prefer to do it in the edit room. Because that means 99% of the time I would do no editing at all. The mess you'd have to clean up when you realize cheesetastic is NOT what you want...think about THAT editing time.

Yea, you'd prefer doing it in the editing room afterwards too, wouldn't you...?

@Poison_Shroom: I'm guessing you did!

[www.diyphotography.net]

-Free version of what you just advertised.

so, i no longer have to photoshop hearts on pics of the girls i photo-stalk?

technology is a-ma-zing!

@Patrick O'Neill: i just threw up in your mouth a little too.

The bokeh normally assumes the shape of the aperture opening through which the light enters the camera. That means it's normally a circle or a close approximation thereof as the iris forms hexagons or octagons as it gets closed down further and further. The blur makes it appear roughly circular. In this case though, you would take your wide-aperture lens and leave it all the way open at 1.7 or whatever...and the "aperture" is then decided by this cutout which you stick in front of the lens. That usually means you get the equivalent of f/22 or something, and not a circle but the shape you placed in front of the lens.

The reason you need a wide aperture lens is so that you can still allow a reasonable amount of light in and so that there is enough out of focus area to actually make the effect of the cutout shape visible and obvious. Point and shoots have very short focal lengths and so very little out of focus area, thus, they can't use this trick. It doesn't *have* to be a heart either, it could be a star or triangle or...whatever really.

bikehorn86

@kitsuneconundrum: Ever notice how out-of-focus lights and lens flares take on the polygonal shape of the aperture? It's like that.

dingus

can someone explain the science behind this? magic? care bear meddlings??

kitsuneconundrum

I just threw up in my mouth a little

Patrick O'Neill

You don't get to see an actual pic of the product until you're on the order page, where a low-res pic appears to show a generic 52mm lens cap with a star garishly hacked into it with an Xacto. Pass.

Q: Can I get a The Bokeh Filter for my non-SLR point-and-shoot camera?
A: No, The Bokeh Filter only works with lenses capable of large apertures (f/1.8 and larger)

From the website.
Now I have to say, I own a 20, a 28-70 and a 80-200. All have an aperture of 2.8 and are professional lenses
A large aperture, aka open aperture is a low number. As in, a very large aperture is f/1.4, and a very low aperture would be f/32 or f/22 on most lenses.

Edit: Guess who just learned to bold

Poison_Shroom

The photographic equivalent of dotting your "i"s with little hearts.

@[www.diyphotography.net]

They have had this for a while with lensbaby custom apertures.

@teamlouish: Indeed

[www.diyphotography.net]

@[lifehacker.com]

$10 doesn't seem that bad. i'd get annoyed cutting out small shapes like that and then the construction paper would get crushed in my bag soon after

Or, you can take a piece of black construction paper and cut a shape out of it and tape it to the end of your lens. Cost $0.01

I knew there were star filters, but this is just awesomely clever.

duck0

God, that's naff - seriously! - one use and it's never coming out of the kit bag again!

S-Express