How-To: Batman Bokeh Photo Effect

So with Halloween this past week and everybody dressed up like superheros, I was inspired to try out a new geeky camera effect:  Batman symbol bokeh!  It is also my current title bar for my blog.  I wish I could say I have been getting tons of requests to know how I did it, but I have not.  Here it is anyway.

For those of you unfamiliar with bokeh, its the aesthetic quality of the blur in an out of focus photo. With a little effort, you can actually alter the shape of the blurred lights in the photo.  I have seen people use shapes before, and there are even a few kits you can buy with pre-cut out shapes, but I have never seen superhero themed bokeh.  And that needed to change.

For proper settings for your camera, check out this article at photopoly.net

All you really have to do to get this photo effect is to cover your lens with a piece of dark paper with your shape cut out.  Yes, that is it.  It doesnt even have to be pretty.  I did this in about 10 minutes with a few simple tools I had lying around the house.

Ideally you would use thick black cardstock for this project.  I did not have any, but what I did have was a brown envelope from a 'save the date' for a friends wedding I attended over a year ago.  It was just there chilling in my monstrous bag of "to shred" papers begging to be used.  Procrastination FTW.

I traced around the edge of my camera lens, and cut out the circle.  I free-handed the Batman logo, opting for the most recent 'Batman Begins' version since it was the easiest to cut out with my box cutter, since I couldnt find my craft knife.  Sadly I think the iconic Batman-ness was lost a bit and it just turned out looking more Halloween bats that superhero, but live and learn.

I then very haphazardly taped the disk to the front of my camera.  Save yourself some headache and make an actual "hood" so you still have easy focusing capability.  You can find an awesome video tutorial of this whole process (executed much more eloquently) at the digital-photography-school.com

Now you might be thinking, ok, thats kinda cool, but why/when would I used this technique?  I think with Christmas coming up, and all of the pretty colored lights, you will have plenty of opportunities to play with this.  A christmas card with a classy geek edge?  Or maybe celebrate your geekiness at your wedding reception will all those pretty white lights?  Use your imagination!!

I would love to see your attempts at taking your photography to the next level of geekiness in the comments below!