Lensbaby

I got the Composer yesterday and I was so excited, but I can't get proper exposure on my shot. I was under the impression that you should match the aperture of your camera to the aperture ring you have in your lensbaby, but with the lensbaby on my camera it won't let me adjust the aperture on my camera. I put it in aperture priority mode (or manual) and attempt to change the aperture but it's stuck at "F00". It's really bothering me because I don't really have enough experience to manually control the shutter speed and ISO properly to get a nice shot without taking 10 of the same picture to test several combinations I think might work.

Help? Thank you!

It's okay. That's how it works. Here's what you do.

Set your camera to operate on Aperture priority, Av, as in the first image. The second image is to show off my new Composer, mainly because I love it on my Rebel XSi. (Sorry!) The third image shows that your XSi will indicate the aperture as F00. You cannot adjust that, but you can make adjustments. Here's what you do.

If it's too bright, as in the fourth image, hold the Av button on the back and turn the dial near the shutter release counterclockwise. If it's too dark, turn it the other way. You'll have to experiment. For metering, I use Center-weighted average, but whether the Muse or Composer it can easily over or under expose the image.

The photos were taken with my iMac using iPhoto. I'm waiting for the Lensbaby add-on to my Mac. Hmm... an iPhone Lensbaby app would be schweet. :D

Seriously though, I hope this helps! Good luck and let us know how it goes.

Graham

In Av mode, you can also affect exposure through manual selection of ISO.

Additionally, if you're in full manual mode, you adjust the light with the shutter speed.

Hope this helps! This should get you going.

Graham

Thank you so much! I was getting nervous because I thought mine was defective or something, since I read that you're supposed to set your camera's aperture to the disc you put in. It works well in manual adjusting the shutter speed to the meter in the viewfinder. I've been forced to learn rather quickly, haha.

Well, it looks as if you did learn. Splendid! :D (It's a favorite now, btw.)

Graham