ESSENTIAL SKILLS / Building up your magical portrait

1 Aperture is key When shooting this project set the widest aperture that your lens will allow, to get the perfectly circular, defocused bokeh shapes that are synonymous with a shallow depth of field.

2 Stay fast Aim for a shutter speed of 1/100 sec, minimum, to reduce camera shake. The blue hour means it’ll be darker, so you’ll need to increase your ISO in order to maintain this fast shutter speed.

3 Light it up We’re shooting on a hill looking down on a city to capture the lights as they increase the bokeh in the background. The street lights are orange too, which complement the balance of cool and warm tones in shot.

4 Wrap your lights Wrap the lights around your model’s neck and trail them towards the front of your camera. This creates a pleasing leading line towards your model, and ensures bokeh circles in the foreground.

5 Bundle them up Alternatively, you can try bundling them up in your model’s hands and have them hold the lights close to their face. This works well when trying to add more reflection in the glasses.