How to Customize the Shape of Your Bokeh in Photos and Videos
Did you know you can change the shape of your bokeh by cutting out paper shapes and placing them over your lens? Maybe you did. I didn't, though, and found out about this simple trick from DANIELS (the guys who brought us this music video), in their mini-video for "Who Do You Love" by Sue Scrofa. Hearts, shapes, letters, entire words: you can make your background highlights appear in the shape of anything you can cut out with scissors.
Get some stiff black paper/posterboard, cut out circles the size of your lens diameter (leaving a tab with which to hold/remove the cutouts), and use scissors or an X-ACTO knife to cut out your desired shapes. Hold the paper in front of a lens with a large aperture (i.e. any fast prime). That's it! There are also some more tips below for properly centering the shapes.
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[image by Gianmaria Veronese]