Get your mind out of the gutter – I’m talking about camera lenses!
I read an article last week about a photography technique that I found to be really really neat. I looked for subjects to try it on, but since I’m alone at home all day, it became the dogs’ job to help me. Then yesterday when I was taking a couple of pictures of Reagan on her birthday, I tried the technique with her, as well. I will say right off the bat that having a subject who will sit still and stay where you put them is much better than one that won’t, as it is a technique that must utilize both hands and sometimes, a tripod as well.
The technique is called Freelensing. If you Google the term, the results will show many helpful tutorials, but the link I posted was the one that was the most helpful to me. Essentially, the technique involves getting completely set up to take pictures including camera settings and focus. Then you turn the lens to manual focus and TAKE IT OFF THE CAMERA BODY. The final step is to keep the lens in front of the mount on the camera body, but tilt it a little to cause the plane of focus to be very small. Basically this technique is a tutorial for turning a normal lens into a tilt shift lens.
I was trying to adjust the focus with the hand holding my lens as I took pictures of the dogs, and you can see on Tod’s picture I missed the mark – focusing on his nose and snout instead of his eyes. Lucy’s picture is much better. The plane of focus runs right across her eyes, and the rest of the picture is out of focus.
Tod:
Lucy:
With Reagan’s picture, I like it, but I wish her whole face was in focus rather than just here eyes. That problem would easily have been fixed if I had moved myself further away from her before taking the picture, but since I was experimenting, I don’t really mind it that much.
If you are interested in photography at all, whether you are an amateur, pro, or just someone who likes to take pictures of your garden, give Freelensing a shot. It is fun, and it produces some really neat effects.
Swimming in a Sea of Estrogen 
Hey Amy! What kind of camera do you have? I have a Panasonic Lumix that is not a DSLR. I love it but I really want to move up to a DSLR. Of course at some point I should replace my point and shoot that I LOVED and lost. Grrr.
I have a Canon 50D, and I love it. The nice thing about DSLRs is that once you have one and lenses, if you ever replace the body, you can still use the same lenses. I love it, and i would not be able to get any really good pictures of the girls’ sports or anything without one. P&S cameras just don’t work well for the type of action shots I like to get.
Emma’s step-mom has the comparable Nikon to my Canon, and she loves it, too. I, however, am a Canon girl through and through, even after testing out some other brands. The Canon Rebel is a great consumer mode DSLR and is a little more affordable than the 50D.
I’ve only played with this technique briefly and always tell myself I want to work with it more, but I always forget about it! Thanks for the reminder, it is a lot of fun!