Bok-bok-BOKeh

So… did you know Christmas is just around the corner?

Really?  You ARE on top of things.

And did you know our mutual friend, the amazing Ree at The Pioneer Woman has a little festive photo thing going on at her place soon?

You DID? I can’t tell you anything, can I? Heh.

Well, in the spirit of giving/confessing, I thought I might share some of my Christmas bokeh photos here. And how I got them to look the way they look.  In case you want to try a few of your own around YOUR Christmas table in a couple of days time.

There are a lot of great photographers out there who probably do WAY more fancy versions than me, but I thought I’d share the basics with you.

It’s SO much fun…

Remember this photo?

Taken at my super-organised sister-in-law Neeta’s place last weekend… here’s another.

I like ‘bokeh’ (which means intentional blurring – as opposed to the accidental stuff I do all the time). It’s great for times where fairy lights abound. And where you can place the focus clear and sharp on something in the foreground, and somewhere in the background, somewhere, a fairy light (or two) sparkles into little see-through balls.

It’s actually super-easy to do (at least at my level) – all you need is:

– a zoomy lense (like my trusty 18-200mm) or,

– a lense with a nice wide aperture setting.  Now before you go all ‘WHAT?” on me – just look at your lense. Does it have a weird something-point-something number near the end that fits onto the camera.  Like 5.6 or (if you are lucky) 1.8 or 1.4.  THAT is your aperture.  The widest setting available on THAT lense. (Little number = little depth of field).

Find something that looks groovy to you.  Maybe a present on a table, with the tree lights in the background? Something that you can focus on close to you, leaving some distance to your lights.

NOW… put your camera into manual mode. Go on. I promise it won’t bite.  See your little light meter in there? It’s telling you if you need MORE or LESS light for your shutter speed/aperture combination.  Wind your aperture right down to it’s lowest setting.  Now adjust your shutter speed to make your light meter happy. (Near that middle ‘0’).  Remember that anything LOWER than about 1/15 of a second is hard to hold steady without a tripod. (You may need to boost your ISO setting if necessary here).

Okay. Now just hunker down and focus on that foreground object… and SHOOT.

I used an ironing board in front of our french window here – I think my niece Salina may have been assisting set up (just out of sight!).

Santy!

Try different angles, and different framing.  Use the lights to highlight your foreground object…

You know, you don’t even need to focus properly to make this work… how funky is this accidental pic?

And sometimes the lights themselves can be the focus.

This was taken VERY early morning on the verandah of my sister-in-laws place.

All the above pics were taken with the 18-200 zoom (at full stretch) which operates at 5.6 (at its smallest aperture setting) and the one below with my darling little (often-forgotten) 50mm 1.8 fixed lense.

The sign actually reads “We believe in Santa”.  But I like this edit.

WE BELIEVE…

We believe you can all dabble in some Christmas bokeh…

What do you think?

You up for it?

Which of these do you reckon I should enter at PW’s place this year?

🙂

BB

PS I know you want poddy calves too. They are coming. But I though some of my camera-type-peoples might like some bokeh chat before Sunday. Bay Leaf and Horseradish soon, I promise.  Over and out…