I made these fun custom bokeh shapes for my Christmas photography on a shoestring budget

Watch video: Custom bokeh shapes

Bokeh is the Japanese word we use to describe the aesthetic quality of out-of-focus elements in your image. (It's also the name of the Digital Camera World podcast, Bokeh Face!) In particular, the specular highlights in an image are often rendered as round "bokeh balls".

However, these highlights actually take their shape from the aperture of your lens; Canon’s budget EF 50mm f/1.8 II lens, for example, is known for the pentagonal shape of its bokeh balls due to its five-bladed aperture (a higher number of blades would create a more circular specular highlight ball).

A 50mm prime lens is ideal for this technique because these optics usually have wide apertures of f/1.8 or more – and this makes it easier to blur the background with a shallow depth of field to further exaggerate the effect.

While some 50mm lenses can be pricey, luckily they’re also some of the most affordable optics on the market, too. Sometimes costing under $200, it’s no surprise that these "nifty fifty" optics are usually the first lenses that beginners upgrade to after a kit lens. If you don’t already have one, it could be worth adding one to your Christmas wish list as they deliver brilliant bang for buck!

Bokeh balls or other shapes are created when specular highlights are thrown out of focus with a shallow depth of field. And the closer you focus to your subject, the larger your bokeh shapes become.

I focused super-close to my Santa Claus decoration for this image, and also set up some colourful string lights in the background to make sure there was no shortage of specular highlights that would be turned into my custom bokeh shapes using this cheap lens hack.

The technique costs peanuts, so be sure to get creative with your bokeh templates. Simple shapes work best, so start off with stars, a love heart or Christmas tree, and then get more elaborate once you’ve picked up the technique.

With no shortage of bright lights on display at home and around neighborhoods and cities this time of year, it’s the perfect time to get creative with custom bokeh and try it out for yourself on a simple still-life setup or even portraits.

1. Draw around your lens

Place your 50mm lens face down on a sheet of black card and draw around its perimeter with a pencil. Remove the lens and mark another larger circle around it, about 1-2cm bigger. Draw a cross in the middle to centre your shape.

2. Create your shape

Now it’s time to draw your shape. I went for a tree to fit with my Christmas theme, then cut it out with a sharp craft knife on a cutting mat. Now cut around the outer circle and then cut tabs at 1cm intervals between the outer and inner circles.

3. Attach it to your lens

Cut a strip of card about 2cm wide and wrap this around the tabs you made on your template, then stick it in place on your lens with some tape. The whole template should then snugly fit over the front of your 50mm lens.

4. Dial in the camera settings

To make the bokeh as prevalent as possible, shoot with the aperture wide open. To do this, go into Aperture Priority mode (Av) and open the aperture as far as it goes – such as to f/1.8. Then set the ISO to 800 if you’re going to be hand-holding, or ISO100 on a tripod.

5. Focus manually

As the aperture template can interfere with autofocus, it’s best to manually focus, so a tripod is a safe bet. To make depth of field super-shallow and increase the size of the bokeh, set your lens to its closest focus distance, then move towards your subject until you can see that it’s pin-sharp.

6. Start shooting

Now it’s time to take some test shots. If your bokeh shape looks as though it’s been cut off, you’ve likely drawn it too big – so it’s worth making a smaller one and having another go. When taking your test shots, be sure to check the sharpness and exposure on your camera's rear screen.

You might also like…

Don't have a nifty fifty yet? Check out the best 50mm lens for your system!