Tree-Shaped Bokeh

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This is a follow-up post to the one I posted earlier this week showing star-shaped bokeh on my Christmas tree.  However, this tree-shaped bokeh was created using  totally different process as described here.

I bought three hole punches at ACMoore and Michael's this past week. This tree shape and a butterfly shape were very inexpensive (<$1) and created very small holes about 1/8 inch diameter.  The third was a heart shape and a bit bigger, about 1/4" diameter, and it didn't work for my lens (Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM Standard Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras) and equipment (Canon 40D).

This picture shows you the type of punch that I think works best.

There is a bit of an art to getting the punch in the right spot on the paper.  Don't be afraid to fold.  As the article points out, you can also buy a set of lens hoods.

I had to crop my shot, and I was a bit frustrated that the bokeh filled such a small part of the image size.  I think this would be improved shooting with an aperature less than the 3.5 I used.  Needless to say, I was in manual mode and using manual focus.

Here's the butterfly bokeh inverted.

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Here's the lens shooting the tree with no lens hood.

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I hope this is encouraging and motivational food for thought as you take holiday light photos this year. I certainly plan to keep experimenting.