Vaseline & Pantyhose...

[ChristopherCoy]

What are some of your favorite tricks for pushing the artistic boundaries of your images? Drinking glasses? Water? Mirrors? Nose grease? Reversed lenses? Cracked filters?

What about tricks during the enlarging stage?

 

[glbeas]

Would you wear them both at the same time?

 

[wiltw]

Vaseline helps keep the leg hair from sticking thur the nylons

 

[wiltw]

I find it interesting that in the days of film, there were countless methods to soften the image

• net filters of various types and densities and colors
• filters with 'lenslets' to soften the image (e.g. Softar)
• vaseline smeared differently around a filter
• in-darkroom printing using any of the above
• soft focus lenses

and today evenone has seemed to ignore/dismiss any idea of using them, as if complexions have gotten better over the decade (not!). Tiffen had a software disk that allowed digital photographers to mimic the various Tiffen soft filters, and they discontinued that because there was so little interest! The standard response is, "I can do it during postprocessing"....as if blur could really mimic the effects of the various kinds of soft effect filters.

 

[removed account4]

I do my best to do everything people tell me not to do
YMMV

 

[Pieter12]

You could grind your own lenses.

 

[BrianShaw]

Vaseline helps keep the leg hair from sticking thur the nylons

I don’t want to know how you know that. LOL.

 

[ChristopherCoy]

Would you wear them both at the same time?

Are you asking? Would you like that?

 

[ChristopherCoy]

You could grind your own lenses.

I’ve thought about buying some “ugly” lenses and kicking them around in the gravel a bit.

 

[ChristopherCoy]

and today evenone has seemed to ignore/dismiss any idea of using them, as if complexions have gotten better over the decade (not!)

I’m not even worried about complexions. I know there’s ways to blur things and distort views without buying some kind of thousand dollar shift lens. If they made a lensbaby for the RB that would just be nifty.

 

[Horatio]

Did you see the recent gallery image shot through a magnifying glass?

 

[cjbecker]

How about using a modern triplet at wide apertures for portraits? Gives a sharp but soft glow to the images.

 

[Down Under]

From the title of this thread, I expected something else entirely... ha!

At my age, I will make do with my Zeiss Softar filters. 'Diffusion' most likely means a growing cataract in my eye.

 

[ChristopherCoy]

Did you see the recent gallery image shot through a magnifying glass?

yes. Talking with the creator a bit yesterday made me start wondering about all the things I’ve never heard of, which started this thread.

 

[ChristopherCoy]

How about using a modern triplet at wide apertures for portraits? Gives a sharp but soft glow to the images.

what’s a triplet?

 

[tokam]

Vaseline was messy to clean from a filter. A layer or two of clingwrap over the lens made a good diffuser. If you wanted a clear centre spot for portraits then carefully burn a hole with the end of a lit cigarette, (also works with pantyhose).

I have several of these filters from Hoya which date to the late '70s. Worst of all I have a six-point star filter which I think has been used twice.

 

[foc]

How about one of these?


Or this old trick?


This one can get a bit messy !


Maybe a homemade one?


Or a cheap one of these?



Or if you have deep pockets?

 

[ChristopherCoy]

That shower drain thing on the end of the lens looks cool. What does that do?

 

[ChristopherCoy]

Sweet!! I just scored a pictoral control for $11 on eBay, shipped!

 

[cjbecker]

what’s a triplet?

 

[Pieter12]

Susan Burnestine makes her own cameras and lenses. Here is her work: http://www.susanburnstine.com

 

[VinceInMT]

Weren’t the old Spiratone ads full of stuff like this? I always thought the were the JC Whitney of the photography world.

 

[pentaxuser]

That shower drain thing on the end of the lens looks cool. What does that do?

Yes the answer would interest me also

pentaxuser

 

[Rick A]

what’s a triplet?

Rodenstock Geronar is a modern multi coated triplet. I have a 210mm Geronar for sale on Fbay.

 

[wiltw]

Weren’t the old Spiratone ads full of stuff like this? I always thought the were the JC Whitney of the photography world.

Not 'full of'...I just checked a 1968 and a 1972 issue of Modern Photography, and the Spiratone ads both had a very small mention of a 'Spiri\atone coated diffusion filter', and there was a 'soft focus 100mm Portragon' f/4 available in a number of mounts.