Heart in a VoidWilliam SheehanAward: Top 100
School: evanston township high school This photo is of a simple flashlight. It is a great demonstration of diffraction, aperture, and their effect on the photo's bokeh. A Bokeh is the common name for the out-of-focus, blurry parts of a photo. They are normally most notable in the highlights of a photo, such as points of light from out-of-focus Christmas lights. The effect absorbed in the photo occurs during diffraction. When light passes through a small hole, it bends around its edges, spreading out and diffracting. When light is diffracted through a hole, it bounces and cancels out, forming a "diffraction pattern" on the other side. This diffraction pattern will always mirror the geometry of the aperture, also known as the size and shape of the hole it's going through. You can observe this just by squinting your eyes, as when you do this, you are narrowing the hole the light has to travel through and are seeing the combined aperture of your pupil and eyelids. I manipulated this by cutting out a small heart shape on a piece of paper. I then showed the camera a bright light, and it all came together to create this beautiful photo of a white heart shining, alone, in a void of black. 
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