Saturday, January 28, 2012

Lensbaybe baby!

I wanted to try out a Lensbaby, the "Composer" model to be exact, so I borrowed one from Unique Photo (they have a big rental department).

Just in case you are not familiar with the Lensbaby product line, the Composer acts like a tilt/shift lens with a sweet spot in the center that stays in focus while the rest of the image "smooshes" out :)

It sat in my bag for two weeks waiting for the right opportunity to shine...

That "opportunity" didn't really happen so I decided to just pop it on my camera (5D2) at the end of a test shoot.

knowing what the lens can do I wanted to create some elements for it to "work it's magic" on - I wanted an overall gold and copper tone, so for backdrop I put up a rich textured brocade I got at an upholstery shop which I lit using a dark orange gel, I added details around the model's pretty face in the form of orchids (I chose them for their texture as well as their complimenting colors) and added a rich, dark burgundy lip color that matched the orchids.
Finally, I covered the model's shoulders with black chiffon (she was wearing jeans and a wife beater, you can see some of the white in the picture, like I said, this was not planned in advance).

I shot with the Lensbaby for a few minutes just to get a feel for it, then put the camera on video mode to see how the look translates to moving images (I didn't even rotate the camera to a horizontal position...) - I have to say, I really like the way it came out :)
I heard rumors about a new product coming out from Lensbaby, with better glass elements and more control flexibility, can't wait to get my hands on it and test it out!
Go ahead and push your creative comfort zone, you'll be surprised how much fun you can have!





Model: Laurence-G-Yang
Make up: Tara Lauren

2 comments:

  1. Nice I seen these at the last Photoplus show and was wondering out it would look while shooting video. its a Creative way to get a different shot or to create something new.. I like it would like to check it out one day. Thanks

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  2. I have a feeling it will look super cool on the track! instant motion blur :)

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