More LensBaby Fun

I’ve stated in several places that I absolutely adore my EF 24-70 f/2.8L USM and my EF 70-200 f/4L IS USM lenses, and that my 50 f/1.8 is wickedly sharp, especially considering the price ($100). All of these lenses produce excellent color, sharpness, and contrast. And yet, I’ve fallen in love with another lens: my new LensBaby. This lens isn’t about sharpness, saturation, or contrast – at least not in the ways we think of now-a-days.
I’ve posted the results of my first experiments, and in that vein, here are some more results of experimentation. For all of these images, I used the double-glass optics with an aperture of f/2.

Behind the Curtain

Break in the Walk

The above image beautifully shows how the lens can adjust the sweet-spot of focus; here it is near the top of the image. I used live-view to confirm focus.

Sparkles

I love shoes, so of course a shoe would be a subject of a LensBaby experiment!

Berry Blur

The above was obtained by focusing on the closer berries, and shooting with a long exposure (1/4s) handheld. I’m not sure about you, but I found the bokeh rather interesting… Like the one that follows…

Flower in Marble

The above is a real flower above snow, but both the bokeh and focus effects render it in this manner. There’s something fascinating about it in an abstract vein.

Alien Eyes I

Alien Eyes II

The above two images are the results of shooting with a flash into both the headlight and taillight of my car. I just love the way the out-of-focus highlights are shaped. That, and for some reason, I keep getting the feeling that I’m looking into the eyes of some alien spider…

Because the lens has no electronic communication with the camera, everything needs to be done manually. I used both Manual and Aperture Priority modes for these images. An important thing to remember, however, is that if you use both Auto ISO and Aperture Priority, the camera can’t appropriately modify the ISO in order achieve a shutter speed of faster than 1/50th of a second, because the camera doesn’t think there is a lens attached. Just something to think about if you use Auto ISO. If you don’t, then you can forget this tidbit. ;-)

Another thing to remember is that the EXIF information will record only ISO and shutter speed, again for obvious reasons. It’s just a little strange to not see the aperture value or the focal length in the EXIF when that’s what you are used to all the time.

That’s it for this post… hopefully you can see some creative possibilities in your own photography!

So until next time, keep writing with light!