How to Make and Apply Bokeh Overlays to Your Images by Jamie Eilts
The holiday season is upon us, and that of course, means lots of sparkly lights and bokeh! It’s sometimes fun to add a bokeh overlay to an otherwise ordinary image to add a little holiday magic to it, but sometimes it’s hard to find the perfect overlay or perhaps you don’t feel like spending money on one during an already expensive time of year.
There are LOTS of ways to make bokeh overlays, and a simple Google search will show you this. I decided to share this technique because it is soooo easy for photographers of all skill levels, AND you probably have everything you need to do it at home already! So, let’s get to it!
What you need:
Camera with lens
Christmas lights
Dark background (hardwood floor, sheet, towel, posterboard, etc)
Step 1: Get Ready
I chose to use my Canon 85mm/1.4L to shoot the light, so I put that lens on my camera and flipped my lens to manual focus. For the lights, I put a strand of white Christmas lights (not LED lights) on my dark hardwood floors and turned them on. I put them near my Christmas tree which has white lights on it as well as I planned to use both lights as I was shooting. If you don’t have dark hardwood floors, you can use anything that would provide a dark background like a piece of poster board, dark colored sheet or towel, etc.
Step 2: Shoot!
Lean over the lights and play around with your camera in manual focus to achieve bokeh as you are shooting. You can vary the size of the bokeh you get by getting closer/farther from the lights and by playing around with how out of focus your lens is shooting. I didn’t change my settings or lens while I was shooting, but you could certainly do this. A vintage lens, lensbaby, or freelensing could produce some fun bokeh as well. You can also introduce other objects (ie: ornaments) to add some color, or you could use colored lights as well! Move your body around to get different bokeh patterns or move the lights around if you are looking for a certain light pattern. Check out my short shooting video to see how I shot these images and my set-up (link below).
Step 3: Edit Your Overlays & Add to an Image
After you are done shooting, you can upload your images into Lightroom (or Photoshop) and choose which ones you want to keep. You can play around with exposure, contrast, saturation, colors, etc before you export your images as JPEGs. I exported at full resolution and sharpened for screen. Once you have your images exported as overlays, you can add them to your images. I’ve included a video showing how I convert my images into JPEGS to use as overlays as well as how to add them to your images in Photoshop (link below).
Lastly, as a gift from me to you, I’ve included some of the overlays I shot during this session! If you use them or choose to make your own, tag me in your images on social media so I can see your holiday magic! Have fun, and happy holidays!!
Link to videos and free bokeh overlays:
*Please note: you will need to be in the p52clicks Facebook group to access the content in the above link. Simply join by clicking here.
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