Thursday, December 16, 2010

More Christmas Tree Bokeh & Some Rad Flare

...because I'm just certain you haven't seen enough of it, have you?! ;)


I was playing with my 50mm lens the other day and decided to share some different sized bokeh shots: small, medium, and large. I always find it interesting to see how a shot can take on a whole new look with the slightest of changes.

Tree-bokeh-small

Tree-bokeh-medium

Tree-bokeh-big

I think I like the small best. 
What about you?



I also hopped on board the Karli-Wagon and tried the tree-through-a-lens-shot.
(side note: I just visited Karli's blog to grab the link to her cool tutorial and saw she had bokeh in various sizes, too!  Karli - you beat me this time! ;) )


Anywho, I thought I'd share a little trick for us Nikon users who also want to get a shot like hers. 
(Thanks must go to Sarah Halstead for tipping me off that Nikon lenses are a little different.)

When Nikon lenses are off the camera, the aperture closes. Or pretty close to it.
Tree-in-lens-4

That tiny hole will not do.

So I decided to come up with a little ingenuity and find a fix for that problem.
Are you ready for my very technical solution?!

Masking tape.

There's a little slider (for lack of a more proper term) on the back of the lens that will allow you to manually open the aperture. I found that by pushing that slider all the way open and sticking some masking tape right against it, my aperture would stay open sans hands.

Not pretty, but it is effective.

Tree-in-lens-2


This is our little tree in the kitchen.

Small-tree-in-lens


And this is our big tree in the living room.

big-tree-in-lens
(hmmm...perhaps I should clean my lens.)

While I was taking the above shot, I noticed the sun in my lens.
I played around a little with it and ended up with the following fun sun flare and starburst shots.

Tree-in-lens-with-sunflare-


Tree-in-lens-with-sun-flare

I think they turned out pretty rad!


26 comments:

  1. This seems to be the rage right now. Great job on the bokehs, lens flares and tree through the lens shot

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  2. Wow, that sunflare is awesome. And thanks for the tip, I am so excited to try that with mine, I have a Nikon too.

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  3. I loved them all!! Now that I have a Canon its like learning a whole new language!

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  4. Oooooh's and Aaaaaah's, Katie!! These are all so very eye-pleasing :)

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  5. OMG, thank you SO much for this post! i have been trying to take the tree in the lens picture but couldnt figure out why my lens closed down and everyone else seemed to manage the picture just fine! Its because I have a nikon! i'll have to try that masking tape trick. Thanks for the tip!

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  6. WOW GREAT SET OF PHOTOS!!! Before and after!!! More after though! ;)
    Have a good one

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  7. Oh wow! Love that sun flare and starburst! Thanks for the tip too. I have a Nikon so if I ever try to do that now I know!

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  8. Yay! I what a great idea. Thanks for posting this. By the way those last two photos are awesome. I will have to try this. Thanks again!! :D

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  9. Katie, the sunflare is beautiful.

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  10. Oh br-other!!! You just haaaad to get that sunflare didn't you?! GAH! Ok, totally trying mine again. LOL! AWESOME job...every shot is beautiful!! ♥

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  11. Very cool! And thanks for the Nikon lens tip so if I try this, I won't be mad that my lens is closed. :)

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  12. love LOVE LOOOOOOOOOOOVVVVVVVE the sun flare WOW! I can not wait until I get more lens so I can try these shots out. but wow that sun flare. wow! the best thing I have seen all day.

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  13. GAH! I think I just had a sun flare orgasm!! SERIOUSLY???? LOVE THOSE SHOTS.

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  14. Beautiful. I used my canon lens and had to have it facing away from me for it to work - no idea why!

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  15. *Speechless*

    Seriously, I love the image of the tree in the lens with the bokeh and the flare!

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  16. these are rad, i will be sharing my very first bokeh shots tonight i hope. I love christmas time so pretty.

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  17. i think i remember what sunlight is....
    oh, winter in iowa!

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  18. Love the tree with the sun flare. SWEET!

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  19. Love your shots!!! :) I'm still learning how to do the bokeh thing... Soon I hope!

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  20. Love that last sun flare shot! Fantastic.

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  21. Yes, I would say they turned out pretty rad too!! AMAZING!!!! The lens trick is too neat. MAYBE I will try that out some time before I get the tree down.

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  22. Look at you!! Awesome! I'm not sure how I missed this post, but I got here now.

    I actually figured out the Nikon lens trick the other day and was going to post something on my blog, but saw that other people (umm, you! and a few others) beat me to it. So never mind! haha!

    Love your shots (I wasn't happy with any of mine, but practice makes perfect!) and I adore the sunflare! How absolutely stinking cool!

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  23. Cool beans!!! Karli sent me your link!! I'm going to give it a try tomorrow!!

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