The Happy Talent
  • Blog
  • About
  • Popular
  • Education
  • Social Science
  • Travel
  • Products
  • Contact
"It is a happy talent to know how to play."

Looking for a Fun, Last-Minute Way to Spice Up Valentine's Day? How About Bokeh?

2/14/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
Looking for a fun, special project or date idea for Valentine's Day? 

Here's a suggestion: do some bokeh photography during a city lights walk!

Bokeh, according to Physics And Photography, can be defined as “the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light." The shape and size of the aperture play a crucial role in the quality of the bokeh in your image. You need a large aperture (small f-stop -- like a 50mm f/1.8), because a large aperture means a shallow depth of field, which makes out of focus things even more out of focus.

Additionally, the shape of the aperture determines the shape of the bokeh! Meaning your bokeh will be round...
Picture

​Unless you cut a shape (heart, star, penis, whatever) out of dark paper and attach it to your lens, with either tape or a rubber band. Or, if you're not the artsy type, you can also just order a kit on Amazon.
Picture

And now, you're set!

​Here are my Valentine's Day photos I took last night -- because Netflix shows have gotten offensively bad, and it's way more fun to go out and do and create things.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture

Super fun, right?

You could do the same thing with four-leaf clovers on St. Patrick's Day, bunnies or eggs for Easter, guns for the 4th of July, stars and mangers at Christmas... or even just kitty cats, dog bones or whatever shape you think will be cute.
Picture
Picture
Picture

Just remember: 

1. Use the larger end of your aperture, which pulls your background (the lights) out of focus and turn into balls of light. It'll look especially artistic if you have a subject (like the beautiful Ruby Snoofer) in front of the lights. 

2. Increase the size of your lights by getting further away from your subject (the thing that's in-focus -- in this case, Ruby).

3. It takes some fiddling. Don't get frustrated if your first few shots suck. And if you're not sure if a light point will make a good bokeh -- just try it! It's the only way to know for sure.

4. In low light, you might need a strobe or some light source to illuminate your in-focus subject. 

For these photos, I used a Canon 6D dslr camera with a Canon EF 50mm/f1.8 STM lens. The 6D does well enough in low light that the Valentine's Day photos were hand-held. (The Christmas ones were taken with a tripod, though.)

This leaves us with one last question:

Are Apple, Facebook, and Snapchat ruining photography? Probably. With the touch of a screen, you can turn a shitty selfie into a "portrait," complete with depth of field, adjusted highlights and shadows... and even "slimming" of the cheeks.


With the touch of a button, you can add fantastic filters and effects to your photos and videos. "Who needs bokeh, when you have chat filters?" the youth may be thinking.

But. In my opinion, these look WAY better than lame, automatic filters. And. As Jean Twenge wrote in 
iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy--and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood--and What That Means for the Rest of Us, more screen time always makes us less happy, and less screen time always makes us happier. 

​So that's a pretty good argument as to why you should just GO out and TAKE excellent photos.

If you've got some photos you'd like to share, I'd love to see them. Find me on Facebook or Twitter! ​
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    About the Author
    Picture
    Eva is a content specialist with a passion for play, travel... and a little bit of girl power.  Read more >


    Want to support The Happy Talent? CLICK HERE!
    Support the Happy Talent
    Or Find me on Patreon!
    Picture

    What's Popular on The Happy Talent:
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

      Want more?

    Submit

    Trending in Dating and Relationships:
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture



    ​What's Popular in Science:
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture


    Playfulness and Leisure Skills:
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    Popular in Psychology and Social Skills:
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    Categories

    All
    20s
    Adolescence
    Backpacking
    Boredom
    Boredom Avoidance
    Camping
    Career Advice
    Careers
    Communication
    Confidence
    Consent
    Creativity
    Curiosity
    Dating
    Economy
    Education
    Entrepreneurship
    Fearlessness
    Female Travel
    Feminism
    Free Speech
    Gap Year
    Great Products
    Growth Mindset
    Health
    Hiking
    Hitchhiking
    Life Advice
    Meeting New People
    Mental Health
    Mexico
    Mindfulness
    Most Popular
    National Parks
    Outdoors
    Parenting
    Parenting Advice
    Passive Entertainment
    Play
    Playfulness
    Psychology
    Relationships
    Resilience
    Science
    Scuba Diving
    Self Help
    Self-help
    Sex
    Sports
    Stanford University
    Startups
    Study Abroad
    Summer
    Technology
    Teenagers
    Therapy
    Travel
    Yosemite

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
Photos used under Creative Commons from paweesit, Steven Penton, torbakhopper, Theo Crazzolara, edenpictures, Kiwi Tom, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Homedust, wocintechchat.com, Ralphman, wbaiv, kg.abhi, Jamiecat *, UnitedWarVeterans, D()MENICK, True Portraits, Neville Wootton Photography, Salvation Army USA West, South African Tourism, phalinn, WilliamsProjects, j_bary, Japanexperterna.se, thephotographymuse, Elvert Barnes, ThoroughlyReviewed, hairy:jacques, joncutrer, wuestenigel, Franck_Michel, jimwerner25, Imahinasyon Photography, joanne clifford, m01229, Antonio Campoy Ederra, Our Dream Photography (Personal), shixart1985, davidstewartgets, couples in nature, Dage - Looking For Europe, jonseidman, andymw91, garryknight, wuestenigel, Rosmarie Voegtli, werner.philipps, Gage Skidmore, Novafly, dinuxm1, Eddie Yip, Prayitno / Thank you for (10 millions +) views, DMahendra, James_Seattle, jamkablam, vanitystudiosphotography, Luiz Gustavo Leme, oki_jappo, Daquella manera, CasparGirl, Mary Anne Morgan, inkknife_2000 (10.5 million + views), homethods, wocintechchat, Hypnotica Studios Infinite, dailyrectangle, Tobyotter, torbakhopper, Kevin Johnston, David Robb, eisenberg_emily, True Portraits, Douglas Pimentel, pmarkham, Noize Photography, rawdonfox, dollen, davidstewartgets, ed and eddie, Ryosuke Yagi, Anthony_Greene, Ruth and Dave, best couples, Jenn Durfey, Cost3l, Orin Zebest, anjanettew, dollen, Editor B, Alexander Day, LyndaSanchez, polosopuestosblog, UpSticksNGo, Agência Brasil, homethods, Find Rehab Centers, Novafly, Deornelas4, buzzern, seefit, C. VanHook (vanhookc), University of Delaware Alumni Relations, Franck_Michel, gordontarpley, Chris Photography(王權), usadifranci, virgohobbs, TheUglySweaterShop, popofatticus, Mitya Ku, Stefano Montagner - The life around me, Official U.S. Navy Imagery, xxxology, Valentina (GaiaPhotography), True Portraits, Lars Plougmann, Scioto Photos, Carlos ZGZ, quinn.anya, anokarina, amtecstaffing, mliu92, sfbaywalk, MakaiylaW, jerseytom55, Ray in Manila, BoldContent, stevenbates, Janitors, True Portraits, dwhartwig, Kuruman, sffoghorn
  • Blog
  • About
  • Popular
  • Education
  • Social Science
  • Travel
  • Products
  • Contact