Let's give bokeh a go

We put our Christmas decorations up on Sunday although by Christmas decorations I just mean our tree, stockings, a wreath and a few ornaments that sit on the fireplace. I don't go overboard with the decorations, but this is mainly because we spend Christmas Day and Boxing Day at other people's houses so nobody really gets to see them except us.

Our tree is not decorated with perfectly matching baubles and tinsel, nor does it have a colour theme allowing us to change the whole set of decorations every few years depending on the new season's fashionable colour. It has an eclectic mix of baubles that have been collected from our travels, and given to us for special occasions.

For example, below are three ornaments given to us by our friends JC and Fiona, Tess and Paul and Ron and Eileen to mark our first Christmas as a married couple:

And this year we have three new ornaments for Grace as it's her first Christmas. One from James' step-sister Georgia, one from Tess and Paul and one from my parents:

The tree is decorated with LED lights which I love because they make it look all twinkly but because the lights are set to intermittent flashing, it can make taking photos very difficult because no sooner have I focused on the tree and the camera has adjusted to the lighting, the lights will change their flashing pattern.

Well thanks to Rachel Agusti's blog about photographing your christmas tree I thought I'd have a go at the bokeh technique. Here's the result. Not bad for my first attempt.

I took all of these photos during the day with no flash so I might try them in the evening with the electric light and with the flash to see what different effects I can get. I'll be sure to upload them if they are any good.