1. Find a scene that has lights in it - Christmas lights are a perfect subject!
2. Put your camera into Aperture Priority mode
3. Set the aperture of your lens to its lowest setting (mine is 1.7, but 2-5ish will work as well)
4. Make sure the lights are out of focus -- the easiest way is to focus on a subject that's very close to you, making sure the lights are behind that subject
5. Snap!
This shot of mine might be a useful template to follow:
Basically, because I focused on the tree in the foreground, the low aperture number made everything else blurry, which makes bokeh out of twinkly lights!
What truly helped me was this tutorial: http://photoextremist.com/bokeh-tutorial
I used it to make this:
If you're too busy to watch it - the most helpful advice was to move the lightsource at least three meters away from the thing in the foreground and to light up the foreground with a lamp or something like that.
Longer focal lengths are better... bokeh with a 100-500mm lens happens more than those in the 10-30mm range.... but you also must increase the distance from your subject to the background with the longer lens.
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1. Find a scene that has lights in it - Christmas lights are a perfect subject!
2. Put your camera into Aperture Priority mode
3. Set the aperture of your lens to its lowest setting (mine is 1.7, but 2-5ish will work as well)
4. Make sure the lights are out of focus -- the easiest way is to focus on a subject that's very close to you, making sure the lights are behind that subject
5. Snap!
This shot of mine might be a useful template to follow:
Basically, because I focused on the tree in the foreground, the low aperture number made everything else blurry, which makes bokeh out of twinkly lights!
I used it to make this:
If you're too busy to watch it - the most helpful advice was to move the lightsource at least three meters away from the thing in the foreground and to light up the foreground with a lamp or something like that.
how to create shaped bokeh
http://www.diyphotography.net/diy_create_your_own_bokeh
If I can do it, then you definitely will :)