Looking for something fun for Valentine’s Day? Try out this fun little trick on your camera to turn your bokeh (out of focus lights) into heart shapes!

It’s almost embarrassingly simple. All you need is construction paper, tape, and scissors!

• Take your lens cap and lay it down on a piece of construction paper (preferably a dark color, but any opaque paper will likely work).
• Trace and then cut out your circle.
• Fold the circle in half so you can make a symmetrical design.
• I free-cut my heart design, but you can also draw it first and then cut it out. (I have lots of heart drawing and cutting practice from my childhood. Your experience may vary.) Make sure your heart shape is on the smaller side, but not too teeny, or you’ll have excessive vignetting on your images. It may take a few tries to get it the right size! Aim for about half an inch.
• Fit your construction paper circle onto your lens (I really hope you have a protective filter, you guys. Don’t do this without one), and tape it down to the side of your lens so it doesn’t slide around. Be careful not to interfere with your camera’s ability to focus! I used duct tape because I’m classy.
• Find some lights to throw out of focus! I still have some Christmas lights out, because that’s how we roll, but street lights, candle lights, city lights, etc. would all work, too.

You can setup images with the lights in the photo, OR, if you’re comfortable using Photoshop, save your heart lights as a separate file and use it to “screen” as a layer onto other images to add the effect later.

Did you like this? Then pin it on Pinterest!

Have fun!!!