Dreamy Wildflowers

[Dean_Gretsch]

Taken with the Lensbaby Velvet 56. I know this isn't for everyone, so I expect honest critique

 

[stapo49]

Personally I really like this. You set out to create a dreamy look and you succeeded.

 

[Jeff1549 49]

Very nice image.....

 

[Dean_Gretsch]

Personally I really like this. You set out to create a dreamy look and you succeeded.

Thank you. That is all we can ask for, right?

Very nice image.....

Thank you Jeff.

 

[terri35 7]

I've always liked the Lensbaby. It's not for everyday use, so as long as it doesn't become your go-to lens, shots like these are fun and easy to appreciate for their effects. What matters is the composition and the focal point of the image, regardless of whether it gets the sharpest focus.

You did very well here. The colors are lovely; the flowers in their natural arrangement look perfect. You might want to consider a square crop, to see if it pulls together better. But it's certainly lovely as it is, and I like it. Good job.

 

[smoke665]

I think Terri summed it up the critique very well above. Nicely done.

Edit: sorry Terri, $%^# spell check put week instead of well

 

[Dean_Gretsch]

I've always liked the Lensbaby. It's not for everyday use, so as long as it doesn't become your go-to lens, shots like these are fun and easy to appreciate for their effects. What matters is the composition and the focal point of the image, regardless of whether it gets the sharpest focus.

You did very well here. The colors are lovely; the flowers in their natural arrangement look perfect. You might want to consider a square crop, to see if it pulls together better. But it's certainly lovely as it is, and I like it. Good job.

Thank you, terri! It is possible to get decently sharp photos with this lens, but I intentionally went the other direction.

I think Terri summed it up the critique very week above. Nicely done.

Thank you much, Smoke. I think the colors are what made me like this one personally.

 

[Derrel]

Honest critique is something many of us strive for, always honest. In this shot, I see a square image on the left, and a right side that does not advance the strength of the flowers. Secondly, I think the colors are too saturated and the overall mood too dark, for the lens treatment. I think this image would be better suited to a square aspect ratio,and lowered saturation and brightening up. I see some edge effects, dark haloing, around the flowers, which I think in this case, might be from usually too much post-processing correction.

I like Lensbaby 56 pictures. I like Lensbaby pictures. I own three Lensbaby models, the original, the 2.0, and the third one which has the odd steel rails, the complicated-to-operate, precursor design that never caught on, to the later Composer model. I like soft-focus and I like dreamy shots, and to me, those usually look best with moderately low saturation.

 

[Dean_Gretsch]

Thanks, Derrel. Must be great to have different models of the Lensbaby? I had hoped the halo would add to the " dreaminess ", but I guess it was a bit too much. I think it is from saturating the individual colors in Photo Raw.

 

[Derrel]

Thanks, Derrel. Must be great to have different models of the Lensbaby? I had hoped the halo would add to the " dreaminess ", but I guess it was a bit too much. I think it is from saturating the individual colors in Photo Raw.

I sometimes liked to use the Lenbsbaby 50mm models I have with a 2x converter. I used the Lensbaby models a lot more ten years ago, when my son was little. As to the halo adding to the dreaminess...I understand that idea, but in this particular case, I don't think it's helping around the purple blooms and around the green leaf edges.

Speaking of which...haloing...it CAN look pretty cool. That's why I liked the original Lensbaby so much more than the Lensbaby 2.0 model; the original Lensbaby created a big, wide, soft halo around brighter highlights and larger, sharp-edged objects, and the 2.0 model really cut that edge haloing tendency way,way back.

The Velvet 56 looks pretty good. I am wondering how it would be with a 1.4x or a 2x teleconverter added, to give a longer focal length? I really thought the 50mm focal length of the originals was a slight weak spot of the design; I see now they've gone with the longer, 56mm length (and also a short tele model too? like an 85mm?), which I think really,truly is _better_ for isolating subjects like flower groups, small objects,etc, than is 50mm.

Have a great weekend!

 

[Dean_Gretsch]

Thanks! Great info and perspective there!