Bree, Lensbaby Portrait

[jenko]

Used a Lensbaby Composer Pro with 80 edge for this shot.

 

[pixmedic]

not overly familiar with the lensbaby.
its an interesting shot, but it doesn't look much like it was shot with an effects lens.
looks more like a regular lens with an extremely shallow DOF.

 

[jenko]

not overly familiar with the lensbaby.
its an interesting shot, but it doesn't look much like it was shot with an effects lens.
looks more like a regular lens with an extremely shallow DOF.

I love your graphic link--it's awesome!

Anyway, I have not used the lens much--I got it for Christmas but have only used it a handful of times. The effect depends on the tilt and aperture. It is an interesting lens, but I have yet to explore its full possibilities.

 

[mmaria]

I love when you photograph her

is she yours?

 

[pixmedic]

not overly familiar with the lensbaby.
its an interesting shot, but it doesn't look much like it was shot with an effects lens.
looks more like a regular lens with an extremely shallow DOF.

I love your graphic link--it's awesome!

Anyway, I have not used the lens much--I got it for Christmas but have only used it a handful of times. The effect depends on the tilt and aperture. It is an interesting lens, but I have yet to explore its full possibilities.

ah.. i heard about the lensbaby a few years ago, but i thought it was more of a soft focus lens.
that pic is pretty sharp in the center. (which i personally like)
maybe the newer lensbabys are sharper than the old ones?
will be interesting to see what kind of results you get with some experimentation with it.

 

[jenko]

I love when you photograph her

is she yours?

Yeah, she has a great face! Not mine--close friend of the family.

ah.. i heard about the lensbaby a few years ago, but i thought it was more of a soft focus lens.
that pic is pretty sharp in the center. (which i personally like)
maybe the newer lensbabys are sharper than the old ones?
will be interesting to see what kind of results you get with some experimentation with it.

It can be very soft focus. But yeah, the newer lensbaby is as sharp as most primes in the sharp areas. You adjust where the focus is by tilting it. So the focus can really fall anywhere in the shot by manipulating the moveable part of the lens. The band of focus widens and narrows by the aperture, which is adjusted manually. Wide open the band is pretty thin, but still quite sharp. In this shot, I wanted the focus on the eyes and cheeks, but you can see it also got the ear and some of the hair, which is actually further away than the forehead or the chin.

 

[Robin Usagani]

Nice.. I would light to see more highlight though. Too much middle tone. The hand is also slightly distracting.

 

[jenko]

Nice.. I would light to see more highlight though. Too much middle tone. The hand is also slightly distracting.

Appreciate the feedback, Robin! I tried more highlight and contrasty, but either her skin tone or maybe it is the freckles--somehow it looks less "natural." But maybe I am wrong ...

This is it ...

 

[petrochemist119 144]

ah.. i heard about the lensbaby a few years ago, but i thought it was more of a soft focus lens.
that pic is pretty sharp in the center. (which i personally like)
maybe the newer lensbabys are sharper than the old ones?
will be interesting to see what kind of results you get with some experimentation with it.

The lensbaby optics tend to get soft near the edges, less so with the double glass, than with the plastic version but still more than most lenses.
Given the intended use of a focused zone the edge softness is not a disadvantage. I think the mounting type makes a huge difference to it's usability too. I plumbed for the budget muse option, which I then found difficult to control repeatably, no better than my homemade version. The composer looks much more practical.

I don't think any of my efforts with the muse were good enough to put on-line, let alone up to the standard Jenko has acheived here.

 

[Gavjenks]

not overly familiar with the lensbaby.
its an interesting shot, but it doesn't look much like it was shot with an effects lens.
looks more like a regular lens with an extremely shallow DOF.

Rundown on main lensbaby optics:
50mm double glass: two elements that have a crapton of field curvature and spherical aberration, such that only the center of the lens is in focus and it blurs circularly outward (unless you're photographing the inside of a dome). Low quality, have to manually change aperture with little magnetic discs. Wider aperture = smaller area in middle in focus in addition to normal DOF. You can swing it around to make the middle in focus area off center in the frame.
Sweet 35(mm): wider, much higher optical quality in the middle or when stopped down, I think better bokeh, same qualities as above otherwise though (intentional SA and curvature), except has built in proper blade aperture.
Edge 80(mm): The got rid of all the spherical and curvature, and made it just a proper, fairly sharp 80mm lens. But since you can still tilt it in the optic holders, it is essentially just a tilt/swing 80mm lens. So, not soft focus, not really "trick" per se, but just same concept as a canon TSE without the shift and less expensive (though not by a ton).