Attempt at Heart Bokeh

Ok, so I'm trying to master the art of bokeh... in this shot, I'm using a special filter over the end of the lens to create the little light hearts (those are mini led christmas lights in a tube!). I was trying to get a shot of our dog and use the lights (and hearts) to show a line of hearts between him and our cat to show they are linked by love.... but the silly cat just would not sit still and kept bolting!

I'm wondering what you think of this as a start? Anything I can do to improve this concept (besides get the cat in position long enough to take the shot lol!).

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Shaped bokeh takes a bit of practice. You need to use a shallow DOF say aperture maybe 2.0 and try to get more of the tree lights in the background. It may be best if you turn out any room lights that are behind the subject and have the lights on in front of the subject (cute dog). Great try and good luck getting your cat to sit for a photo

Your image is well crafted in the sense of blur and focus. Composition wise your subject is a bit low in the frame and a bit too centered. I like the heart shapes. Cute dog too.

As to the 'Art of Bokeh' - I've always considered bokeh subjective, but then so is art. Some folks actually prefer the OOF specular highlights that take on shapes from the lens over the creamy smooth effect. And the lens will have a major impact on the quality of your OOF area. So while it can certainly be considered an art it is both highly subjective and dependent on the equipment used, among other things.

Certainly worthy of experimentation.

Low in the frame... so maybe I should lower the lights a bit behind the dog so I don't have to try to include them so high up over his head? Great feedback! Thanks.

Why not shoot the heart shapes as a background and then get shots of your dog and cat and put them together in photoshop? Neat idea.

Hannya wrote in post #15417743
Why not shoot the heart shapes as a background and then get shots of your dog and cat and put them together in photoshop? Neat idea.

Terrific idea indeed! One I thought of as well, except there is one small problem... I don't have Photoshop!

other than making the background darker so the hearts stand out a bit more there isn't much that could be changed in this one. at least in my opinion.

I think this concept has alot of potential, and is nicely done for a first shot. I feel it would benefit from clear xmas lights and a wider aperture and bigger heart, to create larger hearts as a background, and the colours in the lights are drawing myy eye from the dog, but 1st attempts are there to improve on. Also have you seen the GIMP, its an open-source alternative to photoshop with all the tools necessary for a composite as suggested above, and will continue to be useful for a long time. Google it, theres hundreds of tutorials on youtube to hep break it in too! Good luck

I like this effect, really cute cat too lol

bethsian91 wrote in post #15435681
I think this concept has alot of potential, and is nicely done for a first shot. I feel it would benefit from clear xmas lights and a wider aperture and bigger heart, to create larger hearts as a background, and the colours in the lights are drawing myy eye from the dog, but 1st attempts are there to improve on. Also have you seen the GIMP, its an open-source alternative to photoshop with all the tools necessary for a composite as suggested above, and will continue to be useful for a long time. Google it, theres hundreds of tutorials on youtube to hep break it in too! Good luck

Thank You!