How to make your own Star filter on a budget

Holiday season is (finally) here. For photographers, this means lots of bokeh and glittering, Christmassy photos. But most of us are left strapped for cash after buying all the holiday gifts. Still, the budget doesn’t have to stand in the way of your creativity. As a matter of fact, it can even boost it. In this video, you’ll see how, with some good will and a couple of cheap props, you can create a DIY Star filter for your camera.

You will need:

a plastic transparent CD case
a cardboard coffee cup holder
a ruler
a screwdriver (or anything sharp)
glue
permanent marker (optional)

First, you should make a lens hood to hold your filter. Don’t use the original lens hood you own, because you will be using glue. Instead, use a cardboard holder of a Starbucks coffee cup.

Take the CD case and place the ruler on top of it. With a screwdriver or a knife, carve straight lines along the surface of the case. Note that the number of lines you carve will determine the number of points the star will have, so go with at least six.

This is pretty much all it takes. From this point on, you can use the DIY filter by holding it in front of your camera lens while shooting. But for extra stability (and a free hand), you should go back to that cardboard cup holder I mentioned earlier. You can glue the filter to the cup holder and put it on the lens when it’s dry.

If you want to change the tint of the lights, you can trace all the lines over with a permanent marker. Feel free to play with the colors, but as Eva points out in the video – blue seems to be working best.