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How I Got the Photo - Beautiful Bokeh


How I Got The Photo - Beautiful Bokeh With The Russian Helios 44-2 Lens

Somehow, I "organized" my life in such a way that I was away on a three week camping trip, home for three days, during which I worked 30 hours at my day job, then moved to a friend's house an hour and a half away for a three week pet-sitting favour. Oh yeah, and I bought a house, 1700 km's away during that time. I also wrote several photography articles and created all the photographs to go along with them. This was one of those photos, meant to demonstrate the swirly bokeh effect that can be achieved using a vintage Russian Helios 44-2 lens. I was not at home, had no lights, backdrops, or accessories, just a camera body and the lens. It was time to get creative.

I had plenty of outdoor photos using the lens, but wanted to create something in a very controlled environment, for a fair comparison between the Helios lens and the Lensbaby Twist 60. A plain wall or solid colour backdrop wouldn't do the trick, I needed lots of little lights to create the bokeh pattern, but I didn't have even a single speedlight. Fortunately, I remembered a tip from our very own Erika Sneeringer - use crumpled tinfoil. On its own, the tinfoil wasn't sparkly enough, I needed away to light it, so I propped a flashlight on a nearby sofa, pointing at the foil, and that's how I got the photo.

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