I used 50mm @ f1.8 to take a portrait snap. Light source (fancy lights) was near to subject (~3-5ft). I couldn't get bokeh with big circles with the subject there, but without the subject I could get a snap with big circles.

Is it possible to get bokeh like [this](http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs38/f/2008/362/b/e/bokeh_texture_by_ntscha.jpg) with a subject in thr foreground with a 50mm lens or do I need a long lens to blur background?

This was the pic which I took (with the subject cropped out). You can see the bokeh circles I want, but I'm disappointed by how small they are. I was hoping for a more dramatic effect, which I *could* get when the subject wasn't there.

![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/RqCSR.jpg)