I spent most of the day Monday photographing with an out-of-state, online friend inside the conservatory (it was pouring outside) at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA. Having been there several times already this year, I decided to challenge myself by only bringing a single lens – the Lensbaby. (I hear some groans out there. :-) ) I did provide myself with some leeway by including the Lensbaby Macro Kit, Soft Focus Optic and Fisheye Optic. So I did have some choices to make. I am pleased to say that I used all three and by the time the day was done, I felt much more comfortable with the Lensbaby. As I said elsewhere, I felt I had become one with the lens.
The Hibiscus images below were made using my Canon 5D Mark II and the Lensbaby Composer with the Soft Focus Optic and the +4 Macro filter/lens. Hope you enjoy them.
The first is a beautiful red/purple Hibiscus but I forgot to jot down the name.
I call this second image “The Age of Aquarius” since the Hibiscus is named Fifth Dimension.
Nice! If you hadn’t mentioned it, I would not have guessed the lensbaby (groan) was involved here
Gorgeous! Nice focus, too. I can’t decide which one I like better.
Sorry, but I have to ask – why the groaning with the Lensbaby??? Perhaps I missed something there?
Beautiful images. Gorgeous color – vibrant to say the least!
Thanks folks. Appreciate the comments.
Here’s my take on the Lensbaby. First off, the Lensbaby seems like it should be easy to use. In my estimation, it’s not… and particularly not easy to use well. In my humble opinion there are a fair number of folks out there who use the Lensbaby as an excuse for poor photographic technique. Lensbaby’s slogan is “Embrace the Blur”. That’s cool but you are also supposed to control the blur, use it to your artistic advantage. Instead it sometimes looks like the slogan should read “Blur happens! if you catch my drift!”
Second, I have found Lensbaby images to be the most polarizing images that I have created. People either love them or them hate them and I have encountered my fair share who just flat out hate them. There aren’t many folks in the middle. But the bottom line is that I like them so I continue to make Lensbaby images.
Anyway, they the why behind my comment and the groan.
Great images, Ed. I like them both but especially the first one because of great composition and colours. The second image doesn’t draw me in so much but still it is very nice to me
Regarding loving or hating lensbaby images I must admit that most of lensbaby images that I saw I didn’t like. I can’t say that I hate them, that’s way too strong, I just don’t like them. On the other hand I saw some amazing photos made with lensbaby. I think that the reason for this polarization might be that people like contrast and sharp images in general and only small amount of “blurred” images or images with shallow DOF is appealing to them. Then it is only natural to me that only small portion of all the images done with lensbaby will be appealing to viewers. Just my point of view.
Ed, it would appear that you have overcome any issues you may have had with the lensbaby. These are beautiful and artistic. Very nice. I like the lensbaby, but have not played enough with them. A day with my lensbaby is coming up soon.
Fantastic pictures Ed. I tend to prefer the first one cause it is darker and has more contrast between the colors… Beautiful!
Beautiful images Ed…Love the colors…Too nice to be a lensbaby shot!
Lovely detailing, and just love that red!