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Free-Lensing Tutorial.

A lot of people want to know how to free-lens. and I’m going to show you how! It’s an easy way to create a dynamic atmospheric photograph.

It’s a technique to try if you have a camera with a removable lens! It’s a method of shooting with your lens detached from the camera- but still held very closely. Holding your lens up to the camera (instead of attaching it) allows you to create a tilt-shift effect in your photos.

Here are examples of photos I have shot free-lensing:

Here are the steps you need to get that perfect tilt shift look.

1.Select your lens. Free-lensing isn’t as effective with a wide-angle lens, because it’s MUCH harder to get anything in focus! If you have several lenses to choose from, I would start with a 50mm or higher. If you have a zoom lens that came with your camera, you might want to make sure the lens is zoomed in to at least a 50mm range, if possible.

2. Before you detach your lens from your camera, set your exposure. Auto-exposure won’t work correctly if your lens isn’t connected to your camera. 
3. Take off your lens, hold it very closely to your camera, and move it around a little! You get some really beautiful effects the more angles you try to hold it at. For instance, if the left side of your lens is touching your camera still, angle it so that the right side of your lens is pulled away from the camera. Try taking a few photos, and see how you like them! It’s pretty exciting, right? (NOTE: Nikon users will need to set their camera to manual mode before removing the lens)
4. Practice! Practice, practice, I can’t overemphasize this: Practice! This might not be something you will pick up right away, but if you love the effect, then it’s definitely worth the time to shoot 100 photos before you like one. :)
5. Set the focus ring to “infinity” before you take your lens off. 
Hope that helps!
source: A Beautiful Mess
Posted: May 16, 2012 • 12:10 AM
With: 75 notes
Filed Under: #Free-lensing
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    I must do this.
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