Holiday lights are such a huge part of what we associate with the holidays. And it’s easy to accentuate them with a little bokeh, or purposeful blur.

I took these photos within a few minutes of each other around the house. I did all these handheld, purposely throwing much of the image out of focus to place the accent on specific areas, but with those bokehlicious lights in the background. They add so much atmosphere.

I used a Pentax K-1 DSLR with a Lensbaby Edge 35 Optic for these photos. However, you can use many different cameras and lenses for photos like these. It’s more about the placing emphasis on the lights and intentionally creating out-of-focus areas in your photo.

Holiday lights California style! It’s fun to string lights on some of the large succulents. And it’s fun to photograph them. Again, there’s selective focus on the center, allowing everything else to blur to create a beautiful dreamlike texture.

Look for lights

What do you have around the house? You probably have more decorations than I do! I live in a small house. But there are still lights around. And where there are lights, there are easy opportunities to make some holiday photographs!

I didn’t even bother trying to get anything in focus. They looked beautiful as is!