Have fun with bokeh
Take advantage of festive lights to enhance the mood of your close-ups
Approaching a small-scale setup in the same way that you would a portrait shoot is often a good rule of thumb. Consider using a longer focal length (something equivalent to around 85-100mm) to isolate the subject against a complementary background, and setting a larger aperture to reduce the depth of field. You can then selectively focus on the part of the subject that you want to be sharp, with the rest of the scene being rendered as a soft blur.
The further the backdrop is from the subject, the more pronounced the blur. You can also position something very close to the lens to create blur in front of the subject, which can add a sense of depth to the image.
String lights are a useful accessory to use for this technique, as the out-of-focus highlights can add a pleasing ‘bokeh’ to the background. The bokeh – or blur quality – will depend on the lens that you’re using. Typically, if it’s a fast lens (one that has a large maximum aperture for its focal length – such as an 85mm f/1.4 or 100mm f/2.8), the lights will be rendered as large, soft discs when the aperture is used wide-open. The longer the focal length, the greater the size of the discs in the image.
Set your camera up on a tripod in a dark room, and set a manual exposure so the background lights are exposed correctly. The subject will be too dark, so illuminate it using an off-camera flashgun or a torch.