Bokeh-focused photography is one of those techniques that I see regularly, but have never had any interest in doing myself, so for today’s challenge, I decided to play it simple and try out the most basic bokeh idea possible, just to be able to say that I’ve done it before.  Having no interest in it, I’ve never really inquired into how the different bokeh shapes were made.  Today’s challenge meant that it was time to find out the science behind it and to finally give it a try for myself.

Obviously, since this is just a one day challenge, I created a homemade bokeh lens filter, rather than relying on one of the bokeh kits that are floating around the Internet.  So with the help of my six year old, I made a diamond shaped filter out of an empty Cheez-Its box.  We then pulled the Christmas lights down out of the attic, and viola, we had our first shaped bokeh image.  Simple, colorful, and kid approved.

Maybe one day I’ll give bokeh a real chance, but today wasn’t that day.