Lensbaby

Howdy all. I'd like your opinion on the flow of an idea from start to finish. As I am new to Lensbabydom, I'm not sure if I have lost its...flavor..as I worked on the image. I had found a Pueblo Rain God Pottery a while back. I used my composer with the wide angle in harsh light to get close.

Image 1 & 2 are what I got from the camera. I thought some texture would work well. Those are Pictures 3 & 4. I liked it, but thought the looked static. Put them together & got Image 5. While I like it quite a bit...have I lost the feel of a Lensbaby image? That's why I came here to ask you all.

BTW - Image 6 is what the final would look like without the texture.

Pardon me as I try to answer your question.

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...have I lost the feel of a Lensbaby image?

What is the feel of a lensbaby image or any other type of image? As in many cases within photography, or in any creative endeavor, the answer to such a question will be subjective. I find your work posted here well within the lensbaby rationale. For me Lensbaby means moving out of the box of traditional photography, whether it is placing the well focused sweet spot in just the right place in the image, or using them to achieve something different. The lensbaby is a tool no different than our "normal" optics we use to achieve an end. I happen to think Lensbaby does it better in many situations, but they do not always replace my Nikon lenses.

I work with the composer pro and scout on my dSLR and with the tilt transformer/composer on my OM Pen PL-1. I use the scout when tilting is not what I want on my dSLR (I do not have a fisheye, got the scout sans optic; I acquired the tilt transformer/composer the same way since I have all the other optics). Using the Scout breaks even the lensbaby mold a bit when using the other LB optics in it and keeping everything centered (primarily for portrait and macro in my case) yet still getting the the sweet spot along with the softness and blur on the edges with low F number apertures. Have I lost the "LB feel?" I do not think so.

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I used my composer with the wide angle in harsh light to get close.

Your statement here indicates you used a lensbaby attribute to gain the image you sought. Keep working with the lensbabies and develop your own feel as you go.

Happy imaging. And thanks for sharing your image work flow.

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God said, "Let there be light," and it was so....

Thanks for the insight. Much appreciated!

I think this is a really nice composite. And good for you for not going for a stereotypical 'Lensbaby' image. The last thing any piece of photo gear should do is constrain you to a certain look.