Good day,
Quite a few of us are planning on taking holiday photos. If we want something a little different shaped bokeh is a possibility.
I went with hearts, those are christmas lights in the back. In the front is a little dog my children made.
Hearts, stars, silhouettes, trees... Nearly any simple shape is an option. There are kits that can be bought from what I have seen the shapes are limited and the reviews say they work alright. Once we get the hang of making the cut out it is easy.
Required items are a large aperture lens (the larger the better), some black construction paper, tape, a sharp cutting instrument, a white crayon, lights, and a shape that is smaller than the largest aperture of the lens. Optional is a lens hood, step ring, or square filter holder.
I use a 50mm 1.7 Minolta lens, then cut out a square to fit the ring for a square filter holder, I draw the shape with a white crayon, cut it out with a sharp knife, then tape it to the ring (the paper could just be taped to the lens), I then set up the lights (candle flames, christmas lights, fairy lights, etc) and purposely put the lights out of focus. The distance from subject to lights in the above image was about 5-6 feet. Put them too close and there isn't a shape, put them too far and the image is too small.
Sorry this was late I was in Zion for a few days, updated pictures in the Zion folder will be in the next few days. We even took our family picture with only one take. Make some shapes and go out and shoot.
~Scott