Freelensing by Anita Cline
Let’s talk intentional BLUR!! Anyone who knows me, knows that I love a good, blurry, storytelling image!
Everyone talks about achieving the slice of focus in freelensing. But, I think it’s so important to remember the beauty in all the wonderful blur! Finding that glorious slice of focus takes time, patience and a lot practice. So, I totally get the excitement in seeing that you’ve nailed it! But..hear me out! There is also beautiful storytelling in an image where you’ve you missed the slice of focus or learn to intentionally blur just enough. And by just enough, I mean still being able to see the story in all the dreamy bokeh.
I have always loved soft, OOF images. Even before I knew what freelensing was, I would fall in love with an image that I had accidentally missed focus on. Images others would throw away. Did I post them…heck no! I felt weird and totally out of place in the technical photography world and maybe thought my sense of artistry was a little crazy.. And you know what…maybe it is! But I love what I love. This is one of my favorite “missed focus” images. Not freelensed…just a happy accident. Long before I knew what freelensing was. I never posted it anywhere…but it’s printed big in my house! My point is...if you love it, keep it and share it! That’s what freelensing gives you…the freedom to create non technical, dreamy, perfectly imperfect images.
In freelensing, you’re keeping the lens & the body of the camera very close. The movements are incredibly subtle. When I’m trying to create more blur, I will play with moving the lens a little further away from the body. Moving it up, down & side to side pulled just a bit more than usual. It’s amazing how one slight movement can change an image. In the images below (taken seconds apart)…the first one has a nice slice of focus. By simply pulling the lens out a little further away from the body, I changed it up completely and have a more dreamy image below. Both tell the same story, just in a different way. Allow yourself to get creative and think outside the box! (shot with 85mm)
Tip…When moving the lens a little further from the body, you can also sometimes get beautiful light leaks and haze. So experiment a little with the light and see what happens!
Tip...Moving the lens TOO far will create a dark vignette in the corners of your image…so watch for that. Subtle movements always.
It’s important to remember that blur creates some incredibly beautiful art! So STOP deleting those images off the back of your camera before you’ve had a chance to see them on your computer. Simply because you didn’t get the slice of focus you intended to, doesn’t mean you don’t have something beautiful. You sometimes have magic and don’t even realize it! A lot of times just a simple crop, changing the composition, can make all the difference. I almost scrapped this…but I cropped it and ended up loving it!
Freelensing is all about letting go of perfection. That’s the beauty of it. It’s what I like to call “the art of dreamy storytelling”. Open yourself up creatively & share that beautiful art!
I typically shoot with 3 lenses. I love the 35mm for the wide angle it gives me…but it doesn’t always give me the blur I want. So for more blur…the 50 & 85mm seem to work best. Especially the 85…the blur is delicious on that lens!
Tip….While it’s great to set your exposure in camera before you detach your lens, there are times when it’s just too hard to do that. Like when you are shooting small children. They are moving constantly and by the time you have set your exposure and detached the lens...the moment is gone. So…I often times expose on the fly, while my lens is detached. Just by looking at the back of my LCD screen. The trick here is to underexpose a bit.
I almost took a class once called “Creating Something Out of Nothing”. I didn’t end up taking the class...but the title really stuck with me. By giving images a second chance with a new crop, edit and a different perspective…you can create magic that you never knew was there. Breathe new life in them, so to speak. It’s so easy in freelensing to see the back of the screen and think it’s not worthy of even making it to your computer. But you never know!
So for this week…challenge yourself to get more blur! Tell a beautiful story by creating it within all the bokeh. And NO deleting images until you’ve seen them on your computer and given them a chance to surprise you!
