Heart Bokeh Experiment

I wanted to try a technique to make differently shaped bokeh (pronounced bouquet), little specular highlights (bright spots) made by the camera lens.  I cut a heart shaped black paper and held it directly on the lens after watching an online video.  At first, I tried leaving it about an inch from the lens and that didn’t work.  I used some bright shiny Christmas ornaments for bright objects.  It is certainly different and might be fun to play with again with different flowers or objects.  It is certainly different.  Usually the bokeh is in the background, not as often in the foreground.

A fun photography app

If you have an iphone, I recently discovered a fun app called Lenslight. As of this writing it is free.

It adds stars, suns, lens flares, bokeh, dust, and color and black and white filters to photos on your phone. And you can add them in layers and move the flares around. I probably wouldn't use it on a serious photo, but it sure is fun and creative.

I added a filter and sun to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and a chroma ring to my Blue angels photo.

For more information see:
http://www.brainfevermedia.com/lensLight.html

Please add a comment and a link if you find lenslight available for android or other phones.

More Winning Photos at SMCCC

We had a fairly difficult new photo judge last week for April’s St. Mary’s County Camera Club competition.  At the last minute, he tossed out one of my favorite dog photos, but kept my Eastern Screech Owl for Advanced Digital First prize and my photo of an Old Boat at St. Mary’s College of Maryland for third prize.  I liked the reflection of the autumn trees in the boat photo and the big eyes of the owl, the way its’ ears waved in the wind in front of the bokeh(BOH KAY or BOH KA) background (out of focus blur that sometimes looks like circles).  The 8 or 9 inch owl kept closing his eyes from the wind making it challenging to photograph.

Next month’s competition theme is St. Mary’s County.  Maybe I should have kept the photo for next month, but I have some others I can use.