My third of four lessons with Pam was a 50mm lens only DSLR Photography Lesson. If you do not have a 50mm lens yourself, well, get on Amazon or BH Photo and order one immediately as they are the cheapest lens made, but also one of the most fun to use. It is very, very rare in the DSLR photography world to get a great piece of gear for under $150, but that's just what you get with a 50mm f/1.8 lens. There is no better value for money in photography, not even close.
50mm lenses are great at easily producing bokeh since they have such large apertures. What I told Pam at the beginning of the lesson was that it is no skill to produce bokeh using a 50mm lens, but there is a big difference in quality of bokeh depending on what the background elements of the shot are. What works really well? A string of lights works great. In the above photo trees in a park along the St. Petersburg waterfront are decorated with strings of white-blue lights. I set the focus on Pam intending to make the lights of the trees into round glowing bokeh orbs. No flash was used and I handheld the shot. That is the power of the 50mm f/1.8 lens!
--Professional Model DSLR Photography Lessons now available!