How to make a heart-shaped bokeh lens hood


These are the tools & materials you’ll need:

• Black paper – normal paper will do, I find no need for thicker paper. This is what your lens hood will be made out of.
• Black tape
• A stencil of the size of your lens [I printed it out because I don't have a geometry compass]
• A coloured pencil, to draw the heart
• Scissors
• Pen knife + cutting mat
• Ruler

Let’s get started!


After measuring the diameter of your camera’s lens, give a 0.1cm buffer. In which case my lens is 5.6cm in diameter so my stencil is 5.7cm in diameter. Cut along your stencil and you will have yourself a black circle.



As accurately as you can, dot the centre of the circle and then draw a tiny heart around the dot. If you’re doing it free-hand, try not to draw too tiny a heart otherwise cutting it out won’t be so fun. If you have a heart-shaped cutter, all the better! Or star-shaped, it will work too. If not, use a pen knife to dig out the heart!


Cut a strip of your black paper, about 1.4cm in width. You are going to turn this into a ring around your lens so no need for a long long strip.


So your black circle goes on top of your black ring. Be sure to do a fitting on your camera’s lens! Lots of adjusting and frustration here, at least for me.


Tape it together. I manhandle most of my belongings so I TAPED the whole thing together. So there, you have your heart-shaped bokeh lens hood!


The next thing is to make sure your lens is zoomed in all the way (at least 50mm), it reads 55mm on mine and you’re on manual focus.


Put on your lens hood, go to where the bright lights are and see what you come up with!

28 Responses to “How to make a heart-shaped bokeh lens hood”

  1. Ursuli Hathaway
    November 24, 2009 at 11:22 pm #

    Great post Melly! Have fun playing with bokeh, my husband & I had a lot of fun trying this out at home a few months ago! Look forward to some more bokeh photos from you soon ^_^

  2. y
    November 25, 2009 at 12:00 am #

    You know when I first read your previous post about this I had to go google ‘bokeh’.. at first I thought it was some word you made up..man I am so duhhh
    hahaha
    I’m gonna try this..ONE DAY!

  3. f a i z
    November 25, 2009 at 1:12 am #

    iLike this!

    i’m gonna try tmr!

    (:

  4. montague
    November 25, 2009 at 1:21 am #

    first off: cute nails! and thanks for the tutorial lovely!
    ps: little giveaway on my blog!

  5. Adeline
    November 25, 2009 at 1:57 am #

    ThankYouThankYouThankYouThankYouThankYouThankYouThankYouThankYouThankYouThankYou
    xxx

  6. Erika
    November 25, 2009 at 4:45 am #

    This is so neat. I’m going to try to make one. Also, i got your package! Thank you so much! It was lovely. Working on a reply as I type!

  7. karyn
    November 25, 2009 at 6:53 am #

    this is so fun! i’m going to try it soon!

  8. Jen
    November 25, 2009 at 11:31 am #

    i love this!!!
    dang – i dont have an SLR.
    :-(

  9. denise
    November 25, 2009 at 11:49 am #

    yayy so awesome :D

  10. priscilla
    November 25, 2009 at 2:03 pm #

    Short n sweet tutorial! No excuse not to try it..ha..anyway any tips on getting a good camera? Thinking of investing in one! Luvv ur moody food shots..

  11. Valencia Lia
    November 25, 2009 at 3:02 pm #

    Yeahhhh for the tutorial ! I have to try that out tonight or during this weekend when I go for my seafood trip! Wooohooo:)

    And you too use a Nikon camera as well ? I’m using the Nikon D60 now,what’s yours ?

  12. Diana
    November 25, 2009 at 3:28 pm #

    Thank you for this! I will be trying it!

  13. Dot
    November 25, 2009 at 6:55 pm #

    YOU. ARE. AWESOME :) Thank you!

  14. Yen
    November 26, 2009 at 12:13 am #

    thanks for the tutorial, melly!
    i’m going to try it! :D

  15. audrey
    November 26, 2009 at 12:16 am #

    love love love this! :)

  16. Sarah
    November 26, 2009 at 9:27 pm #

    That’s so smart. Gonna try this weekend! ;D Thanks

  17. Winnie
    November 27, 2009 at 2:13 pm #

    cute nails! what color is it?

  18. Daisy
    November 29, 2009 at 6:08 am #

    Thankyou for sharing this ! I must try it!

  19. clareassiral
    November 30, 2009 at 4:21 pm #

    cool! thank melly, will try it some time soon!

  20. Laura
    November 30, 2009 at 5:16 pm #

    Wow does this really work? I want to see your results!

  21. Melly
    December 5, 2009 at 1:54 am #

    priscilla: Definitely go out to the shops and try holding the cameras, see if you like the feel of it. If you’re looking into getting a DSLR, the most common dilemma is whether a Nikon or Canon. Each model has its pros and cons so weigh out your priorities and see if what you have to compromise with is acceptable.

    valencia: Mine’s a D40!

    winnie: That nail colour is Tropical Temptation by Revlon.

  22. ai
    December 5, 2009 at 10:48 pm #

    Thank you for sharing. This looks like a fun experiment.

    I like your nail polish, too!

  23. Valentia
    December 29, 2009 at 2:21 am #

    Thank you so much!!! I have been trying to find a tutorial for the lens for ages!

    But I have no idea how it works and I can’t take full length pictures like you! I tried to take the entire Christmas tree I have at home but I can’t. :( I even cut different sizes. Any idea why?

  24. Top Rated Cameras
    December 20, 2010 at 4:43 pm #

    That was a cute lens hood! :) I want to try the petal lens hood by using a paper as well.

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