You could try for a lens reversing ring for your camera format, an extension bellows and whatever cheap lens you can glue, tape or wedge onto the reversing ring. Possibilities are endless.
Someone here suggested that I try some pantyhose for softer portrait shots. Not on me, on the lens. Maybe I could combine that w/ the Vaseline. As it was, the extra leg on the pantyhose just hangs down on the front of the camera, making it easy to trip on. Looks a little weird too. Let's put it this way, you probably wouldn't want to use this setup to photograph the women's beach volleyball tournament. Then again, you might. Depends on whether you're at Venice Beach or Daytona Beach.
A small square of black pantyhose gets stretched between 2 blank filter holders and attached to the font of the lens. Do they even sell pantyhose anymore?
A small square of black pantyhose gets stretched between 2 blank filter holders and attached to the font of the lens. Do they even sell pantyhose anymore?
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?
I find that Cokin filters gives you all that you could ever want in an easily managed and quickly reversible package.
Some of my favorites so far is (I can’t be bothered looking up the numbers):
The halved bar lens that gives a selective speed lines effect.
The aperture carts. Make your own.
The diffusion star. Rainbow coloured stars, without the expense of a star analyzer filter.
Tobacco grade. Makes everything look like the start of TopGun.
The red/blue polarizer. Very nice for controlling tones on slide without affecting everything.
Best photo-based laugh I had at myself. I wanted to soften the 8x10 images of my parents -- too sharp for 80+ year olds, I thought. So I tried the stocking trick and had no luck whatsoever. Then after the third or fourth attempt I realized waving a stretched piece of stocking over an 8x10 negative in a contact printing frame was never going to soften the image.
Woman's hose stretched across front of lens, held in place with rubber band, then take your cigarette and burn a hole in the middle to get a spot of desired sharp focus.
Woman's hose stretched across front of lens, held in place with rubber band, then take your cigarette and burn a hole in the middle to get a spot of desired sharp focus.
If you have a matte box or adjustable bellow lens shade, you can stretch the piece of pantyhose over the opening. It should work over the lens hood, too.
When my GF and I paid our $150/month rent doing very low budget wedding photography in the 1980's I made a set of three filters using clear nail polish; one with dots, one with concentric circles, and one with cross-hatching. The inlaws never looked finer.
I would love one for my P645N. Do you know how Craig Strong first made his original Lensbaby? He used a piece of vacuum cleaner hose. Kinda like freelensing, but with the hose between the lens and the camera.
I would love one for my P645N. Do you know how Craig Strong first made his original Lensbaby? He used a piece of vacuum cleaner hose. Kinda like freelensing, but with the hose between the lens and the camera.
That's how @Leanne Taylor explained her magnifying glass trick to me. She uses a piece of black plastic that comes with Ilford papers and taped one end of it to a filter on the end of her lens, and the other to the magnifying glass.
That's how @Leanne Taylor explained her magnifying glass trick to me. She uses a piece of black plastic that comes with Ilford papers and taped one end of it to a filter on the end of her lens, and the other to the magnifying glass.
Here's an old trick.
If you are using a SLR camera just breath on the lens until it mists over. Then, eye to the viewfinder, point the camera at the subject and watch the mist clear. When it has cleared enough ... shoot!
Nothing to buy, nothing to attach, nothing to carry, always works.
Photrio.com contains affiliate links to products. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links. To read our full affiliate disclosure statement please click Here.