My first attempt at Aperture Masking or Custom Bokeh! I’ve been wanting to try this out for a long time after viewing a plethora of such photos in Flickr and DeviantArt. I finally got myself to move my arse and get on with it.

I followed the instructions from this guide.

The steps I followed were:
1. Cut out a circle on a black chart paper with diameter = diameter of lens hood.
2. Drew a circle at the center with diameter = f/1.4 = 50/1.4 = 35mm.
3. Drew the heart a little smaller since my ‘aperture’ is not too close to the lens – on top of a lens hood.
4. Stuck the chart paper on top of the lens hood using cello tape.
5. Voila!

Shoot at the widest possible aperture (with the subject very close to the lens).

I stuck my circle on a lens hood because I did not have a filter that I could risk sticking stuff on. It worked well for me, but I feel a filter would produce even better results.

This is how it looks like: