I have a confession to make. 
Last month, while we were out of town visiting family, I went online. Photography Awesomesauce had originally issued a Winter Challenge for the week of Christmas so I’d gone to see what the challenge was (it was later pushed back to the next week and we were given the week off) . While I was looking I also went to check out what the upcoming weeks had in store. My eyes fell on the words, “Free Lensing.” “What’s that?” I asked my husband. He had no idea either, so we googled it (actually, I like to use swagbucks, so I swagbuck’d it, I guess? That just sounds funny). “Um, Jason, I think I’m gonna be using my old camera for that one.” “I think you are, too.” was his simple reply.
Free Lensing (Lens Whacking if you are from the UK, apparently-you get a whole different list of posts when you search “lens whacking”), is the original method for creating a tilt-shift effect. This is what makes most of an image out of focus while allowing light to enter the frame from different angles, that otherwise would not have been had, creating a soft, water color effect.
It’s a tricky concept to master (I’ve only tried it twice so I am not a master…… yet) as it is somewhat of a balancing act. And you must be brave to attempt this method, too, because, as any photographer worth his/her weight in negatives can & will & should tell you, “Protect. Your. Camera’s. Sensor!” If dust gets on it and you don’t know how to clean it (or can’t afford to have it cleaned) you will either have a beautiful and expensive paper weight that looks eerily like a high end camera, or you’ll be spending hours and hours and more dreaded hours in Photoshop cleaning the dust specks out of subsequent photos. You will want to stab your eyes out with a dull spoon before you are done cleaning up the first photo.
As I mentioned earlier, I have attempted the week 11 challenge, free lensing, twice so far. And, actually, I ended up using our “middle” camera, a Canon T3i with a lens that was never made to be used with that camera (it fits my Minolta film camera) to create the images I think I will be using for this challenge entry. Actually, for the second shoot, I really disappointed myself because it was a gorgeous day with beautiful, beautiful light falling across the scene and I didn’t get to photograph it because I locked half of my gear in the car! I had to wait until my hero (my husband) arrived with the spare key before I could do anything. 🙁 The sun had not yet set, but it was being blocked by a huge building, so the lighting for my second shoot ended up being incandescent. But I was very happy with the images I got. In addition to this one, I had two others I liked, but both my husband and I liked this one, so I edited it (which I almost didn’t do, but I am glad I did – it looks good):
The following images of the flowers are from my first attempt. I think they are beautiful but the lens I was using was not suited to free lensing as it does not have an infinity setting to ensure some focus is in the image. None the less, I really liked these. Even the last one, which is entirely out of focus, is beautiful. I think it would be a perfect setting for a beautiful, sweet, reflective poem.
