Christmas Decor at Home {Part Two}

I snagged more pics of our Christmas decor!

I bought these vases and small ornaments from Garden Ridge.  

I was given the adorable Santa by secret Santa!

Here's a shot of the centerpiece without Santa.

Of course I had to try some more bokeh pics!

I couldn't help but take this one!  That shiny red 

ornament was just asking to get in on the action!

Do you have all of your decor up and ready for the holidays?

Christmas Bokeh

Last year I wanted SO badly to master the whole bokeh effect.  I tried with the equipment I had:

This was December 2013.  I was using my 18-50mm lens that came with my Nikon D3000.  I had just taken my first photography class (a 101, four hour class).  I could get the small bokeh, but the lighting wasn't right.  I wanted the fat bokeh!

But this year, I was ready.  I purchased more gear and have tons of practice under my belt.  I took this shot with my 24-70mm lens.  My aperture was 2.8 and used my speedlite.  If you would've asked me last year about a speedlite, Iwould've given you the "deer in headlights" look.

The bokeh is perfect!  It's fat and blends together.  The lighting is just right on the snowman.  I had to turn off the Auto Focus and switch to Manual.  Otherwise, the camera kept focusing on the tree and not the snowman.

Have you tried bokeh pics?