My Christmas Gift to me

I got a cool new gift today.

It came in the mail all the way from Israel.

I woke up one morning and, half asleep, I got on the computer. 

I don't know where or who pointed this item out, but before I knew what was happening,

I was filling out my credit card number and ordering the 

Bokeh Masters kit.

Some people sleep walk... I was sleep shopping.

(Really... that's my only excuse... I was tired.)

There was some logical reasoning...

the price was do-able,

and knowing that I'd soon have lots of long, cold, dark nights ahead of me,

it seemed like I should have some sort of indoor photography project.

The kit came with all sorts of shapes to alter the bokeh in your pictures.

Hearts and stars,

butterflies and horses... these could be fun!

It also came with a few stranger shapes.

A volume symbol?

Recycling?

Is that a nuclear power symbol?

I don't know... kind of weird...

but the extra blanks will be nice,

maybe they can be snowflakes or trees or something...

Not long after I made my purchase 

and as I was waking up a bit,

I looked into this bokeh/shape thing further.

Turns out, you can make your own fairly cheaply.

Here's one tutorial.

Still, I'm not upset with my purchase, 

in fact I'm rather excited.

I've only played with it a teensy bit and still have a lot to learn.

Having a halfway willing subject helps.

(Obviously, she was only half willing... the bumble was much less wiggly.)

I imagine that shaped bokeh could seem a little cheesy, 

but there might be some cool applications for it.  

For now, it's just a fun new toy

and if you make your own, you can have one too!