Thought this would be a nice article to post from Darren Rowse
Darren Rowse is the editor and founder of Digital Photography School. He lives in Melbourne Australia and is also the editor of the ProBlogger Blog Tips and TwiTip Twitter Tips blogs.
It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas… and in our forums I’ve noticed more and more great Christmas images being shared – some of which feature a technique that is always popular at this time of year – Bokeh Christmas lights shots.
The technique takes a bit of experimenting and practice but is relatively simple to do. You need some Christmas lights and a camera lens with a reasonably ‘fast’ aperture (or a large aperture).
The key is to shoot at the larger end of your available aperture – this throws the background (and foreground) of your shot out of focus and any Christmas lights in the foreground or background will become little balls of light.
As you’ll see in most of the images featured in this series – the technique is particularly good if you also have some element in your shot that is in focus. This ‘subject’ might be a person, a pet, a Christmas decoration or something else.
You can make the little balls of light bigger by increasing the distance between your in focus subject and the out of focus lights in the background.
While most of the images in this series have the Christmas lights in the background of the image (behind the subject) it is also possible to create the little bokeh balls of light by putting the lights in the foreground of your image (in front of your subject). You can see this in the image below. The impact is a little different as the bokeh balls will cover part of your subject.
Another popular technique is to create different shaped bokeh. You can make stars, hearts or even little snow flakes like the image below.
To get these different little bokeh shapes is pretty simple. You just need to make a little cutout ‘mask’ for your lens. Rather than go over how to do it here check out this video tutorial that will walk you through it here.
The other way to change the shape of your bokeh balls is to experiment with different apertures. You’ll find that in most cases the larger your aperture the rounder the ball – but go for a slightly smaller aperture you may find your bokeh becomes more hexagonal (or Heptagonal or Octagonal… the number of sides will depend upon how many blades your lens has).
The different ways of using this bokeh Christmas lights technique is only limited by your imagination. Here are some more examples to give you ideas. Enjoy!
Read more from our Digital Photography Case Studies, Featured Category
Kevin and Nicole Photography Wedding and Portrait Photographers. 
I just found this article as well and really enjoyed it! Thanks so much for sharing and I love the soft coloring in your photos. You are very talented, they are beautiful.
Wow!!! stunning!!!!
Oh my gosh! I have been wondering what this effect is called. (because of the season :P) I had no idea how to go about searching for it, and I never would have figured out a name like bokeh.
Thanks for stopping by my blog as I wouldn’t have found this amazing tutorial! I hope to post a little more “Ornamental” photos with this trick. p.s. Subscribed!
WOw! How do you get such vibrant colors?
I have the setting on my camera
These are all beautiful images. Thanks for sharing.
Love the dog covered in lights, and of course the Elvis 🙂
Beautiful images! I love the way the lights fade down from the clock tower and the children’s faces. Captures so much the spirit and glow of the season! Thank you for sharing it 🙂
Thanks for subscribing to my blog! And thanks for sharing this post by Darren Rowse–I’ve always wondered how this effect was achieved. –John
Love that top shot! Merry Christmas!
I have fallen in love with your blog. Please keep posting!
These photos are beautiful and so festive! Thanks for sharing so many great examples!
Thanks for posting this reminder. I enjoyed looking at your blog and will be back! Also – thanks for visiting mine.
Beautiful photos! 🙂
Wow! Great article and superb shots. Merry Christmas!
Beautiful pictures! (o:
Thank you so much for this article! I’m totally making my own bokeh maker now. Thank you!
Thanks for the explanation! I like to use this technique for lights and for other objects in fore and background but kind of stumbled on it years ago when I was still using film and photographing flowers. Love these photos!
awesome!! very very beautiful..thank you!!!
Amazing stuff ! As an aspiring hobbyist photographer, this is brilliant. Thanks for sharing the secrets.
wow! MeRRY CHRiSTMaS!
I really enjoyed each shot. Thanks for sharing 🙂
lovely photo’s! makes me feel christmassy all over again 🙂
congrats on the new addition to your family – such a cutie!
So beautiful and cheerful!
This is beautiful, and so interesting! I never knew those light balls had a name. I can’t wait to try out the techniques described here.
I absolutely love all the colorful lights in the backgrounds and how they get distorted in dots! Beautiful!
Beautiful Bokeh, thanks for stopping by, MJ
Beautiful! Thanks for the tips. I’m going to try this myself.
Breathtaking, so inspiring!
Hermosos recuerdos de la Navidad, Excelentes Fotos.
Saludos desde Armenia, Colombia 😉
wonderful post! many thanks!
Love your pictures! Thanks for following my blog! 🙂
Thanks for visiting my blog. I really enjoyed your bokeh photos. I have tried to do this a few times. The photos were average, at best. I check out your tutorial link and see what Ian doing wrong. Thanks for sharing.