Week 49 good to WOW Edit Bokeh Lights

So...I am a little bit busy, as are most people during this season, and I should be doing something else, but to not participate in Shoot and Edit this week when we only have a few more weeks left...that would make me sad.  Just looking at the thumbnails over at Ashley's I know there is some gorgeous bokeh light shots out there.  I cannot wait to look at them...though I will.

I have not had much time to experiment with bokeh myself, though we do have our tree up, but as is typical for a Thursday morning I had a half hour at our church while waiting for a meeting to start...kid free and camera in hand.  Only one tree to play with, but still fun.  Oh, and I had a can of coke with me.

Original:

1/200  f/1.8   ISO 200   50mm  (Most of the 30 min. I thought I had my 35mm, and was wondering why I couldn't get as close.)

Clean Edit:

Straighten a little, crop, remove pine needle, boost clarity and contrast.

Fun Edit:

A retro preset I got from Adobe Lightroom Share

So the coke in the white cans might not have a reputation for tasting very good (I found the first sip of the first can really did taste and feel different) but they sure are pretty...and still get me the caffeine I crave.  One tip, though, they balance a lot better on cotton batting when they still have something in them.

And I think there should always be an ornament self-portrait:

And then a left over from our Holiday photos a few weeks ago:

I told her I just wanted 5 more photos...and all 5 have her with her hand held up counting down.  She always makes us laugh.  The doctor takes her staples out tomorrow.