A while back I signed up for Picture the Holidays and expected to really enjoy it. I was right. I do. My problem? Me! I want to capture the prompts in order. Why? Because I think the order is important - the creator of the course, in this case Tracy Clark, designed it with thoughtful deliberation. Who am I to mess things up?
We're now into week 2 and I'm stuck on Day 3. DAY 3!! Why? Hearts. I got the prompt and mulled for a while and am now stuck on the idea that I want to draw a heart, in a dusting of snow, with a shallow depth of field, while snow continues to fall. The problem? No snow! (Well, I could drive about an hour away, but wouldn't you think Mother Nature would just give me a sprinkle? Here at home? Enough for one little capture?)
It was time to get creative. Shake off the idea of the perfect plan and just get on with it.
A while back I read something about shaping bokeh. I took some rather cryptic notes and then filed it away. I dug out those notes.
This is what I managed to do:
A 2" strip of black carstock and a circle which matched up with the diametre of my Canon 50mm 1.4 lens.
I then cut 1cm slices into the 2" wide strip of cardstock. The slices were spaced 1cm apart.
Then, on the circle previously cut, I cut out a heart shape. The original heart shape was cut out, using a paper punch, from Kraft paper. It was adhered with a glue dot to the centre of the circle and with an exacto blade, I cut out the heart shape using the paper punch as a template.
I then ran a tape runner along the 1cm slices on the 2" strip of black cardstock.
The narrow slices made it easy to adhere the strip to the disk with the heart shape. The hood now fit snugly on the lens. Now to try it out:
Whoot!
It worked!
Once I figured it out, I then went back and changed the disk. I replaced the small heart shape with a large circle. Then I made a set of small disks with hearts, butterflies and stars which I can use on future projects!
Now I can move on and finish some assignments!
