A Foray Into Freelensing

The ring shot.  It seems to be a must-have in any engagement/wedding shoot these days.  And for someone who is still "new" to the business, a macro lens (required for those amazing close-ups) is still a ways down the wish list.  After the 5D Mark III and the 70-200 2.8.  and the 35 and 85 mm primes.  And the 24-70 2.8.  And on it goes.

So when I read about freelensing, I decided that trying the  poor-man's macro and tilt-shift was worth the experiment!  No sense reinventing the wheel - you can read a tutorial here, or just google "freelensing" for some great tutorials and examples of what's possible.  All you need is a DSLR camera and a lens - the 50mm worked well for me.

Here is an example of a ring shot using the macro freelensing technique ~

And here is an example of the tilt-shift (I should've tried it with stationary objects instead of a 4 and a 2-year-old) ~

Anyway, the lesson for me is still "use what you've got", or "fake it 'til you make it" or, more accurately, "fake it 'til you can afford it"!

A word of caution - if having your lens detached from your body makes you nervous, or if you are in a location where dust, water, or dirt could get inside your camera, DON'T TRY THIS!