Once in a while, someone comes up with a completely creative photographic technique that you just have to try. My friend Erik recently sent me to a Korean website displaying such a technique, which I've termed shapertures. Neither Erik nor I read Korean, but through some trial and error and with the help of a friend who speaks a little Korean, I've managed to come up with some shooting guidelines.

The idea is simple--by placing a mask in front of your lens, you'll change the shape of your lens' aperture and thus the circle of confusion, causing out-of-focus point lights to take on new, fun shapes.

Download both the building and shooting/results pages as a 2.1MB PDF that's free to download.