bokeh shape-O-mat One of the more popular posts here at DIYP is Create your own Bokeh. It shows you how to add hearts or stars (or skulls) shapes to your picture. I can totally understand it. It is a quick project, it’s fun and it takes nothing more than a piece of black paper and a puncher, or scissors.

I have to say, though, that making a few of those fun widgets takes time. It also eats space in the camera bag. If you are ready to take it to the next step, take a look at Ron Rademacher‘s Bokeh Shape-O-Mat.

Let’s go over the check list: Stars – check. Hearts – check. Dolphins – check. Bears, elephants, smiley moons and a few more. All are present in Ron’s All-in-one Bokeh Shape-O-Mat.

The thing I like about this little strip of black paper is that it saves lots of room in your camera bag. It also saves you the effort of making multiple caps.

With Valentine coming, it is the perfect excuse to get a nice 50mm 1.8 lens to get that kitschy picture of your loved one.

If you want to learn how this Bokeh thing actually works, you can check out manimal magic’s great explanation of this technique.