I debated putting this off another day or two, but I guess like the Grinch, I had a change of heart and decided to stick with my promise from yesterday and tell everyone how to do this awesome little trick today.

Again, this one is fairly easy, but does require more preparation than the other two techniques I showcased yesterday (but not too much).

You will need the following items: black heavy cardstock, craft punches or a craft knife, a fast lens (f/1.8 would be really great - so hopefully you bought that cheap 50mm f/1.8 lens). And here are the instructions:

1. Either trace the outside edge of the front of your lens or (as I did) measure the inside diameter of front of the lens (be sure to use the front of the lens, not the back where it attaches to your camera)
2. If you have access to one, use a circle punch of the correct size or cut the circle out with scissors - this will be your blank
3. Again, if you have access to various shaped craft punches, simply use them to punch out a shape in your blank. If you don't have one, or want to get more creative, draw a shape on your blank, then cut it out using a craft knife (like an X-Acto knife)
4. If you traced the lens, you will attach the shape punched disc to the end of your lens using some tape. If you measured and cut based on the inside diameter, you can place the disc inside the end of the lens (mine seems to stay simply by pressure and getting stuck in the filter threads)
5. Repeat the steps as many times as you want for as many shapes as you want to make!
6. Then simply fire away - for my shots, I was just defocusing the lens manually and shooting

If the above steps seem a bit daunting, or if you just prefer buying things, there is a kit from Lens Baby that comes with pre-cut shapes as well as extra blanks. Luckily for me, Anya does a ton of crafting, so I have access to all those punches. Either way, you're well on your way to making fun photos like these:

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II, 1/5th, 1/8th, 1/12th, 1/12th sec respectively at f/1.8, ISO 200. No Post Production.

Well, I hope you enjoyed the tutorial - my Christmas gift to you. Hopefully it inspired you to give this fun technique a try. Sorry that today's set seem a little blurry - I didn't have time to reshoot them.

Tune in again soon... next up is the Christmas TTV!

- Bill