Freelensing - Let's give it a go

Incase you have not heard, freelensing is a photography technique where the lens is detached from the camera, and then held in front of the camera. For some cameras, like the Nikon, you must manually hold open the lens shutter to allow light to enter otherwise your shots will be very dark. This can be done with a piece of tap easily. Check out #freelensing.

HOW TO: First, you attach your lens as you normally would to your camera. Set your ISO, exposer and speed to your shot/subject. Be sure to set a high speed since you are hand holding your lens and there is likely to be some movement. Once you have achieved your settings, remove your lens, tape the shutter open and "GO!"

This technique takes a lot of practice and trial and error. Try all your lenses in your bag, you might find one works better than the other depending on light and subject. The idea is to start with the lens pretty close to the camera opening, then gradually and slowly move it out, and in and left and right and at various angles taking shots as you go.

BEHIND THE SCENES: These two pics above of the artificial flower were taken under a stove hood light. The light directly illuminated the flower but also created pockets of darkness. Oddly, the background was not black, there were spices on the stove, the timer was visible and other background items were visible. The freelensing created this black background! I find this to be so cool! In the first shot above as you can see there is some blur, this was totally unintentional but happens when you are free-handing the lens. A pleasant unintended outcome. That is one of the fun things about freelensing, you just never know what you are going to get, very unpredictable and imperfect.

While I have not yet attempted a human subject I intent to play a bit with this in the future. You can see some examples of this by just googling "freelancing" images. May cool shots to see for some inspiration.

Below are a few added examples of food, which can be a fun and interesting freelensing subject. French onion soup left and pizza crust right.

Your distortion in both focus and light can be dramatic or subtle depending on the lens you chose to use and how much you move the lens from the camera. It is all trial and error and practice. Often the end result when you press the button is not what you see in the eye piece so it is always a surprise.

I am currently teaching a WWII block as part of my homeschooling curriculum, grade 9. Here are some freelensing pics of our battle board. I was aiming for distortion, having some things in focus and others not so much. There is some additional editing that was done to give them more of a vintage look - done in Lightroom and Photoshop.

Finally, here is an example of one where I was able to capture some measure of light distortion. I have found this is the most difficult thing to capture in freelensing without loosing focus. I like it in these vintage-like battle board shots because it adds an authentic misty feel to the scene. Give freelensing a try! It can be a lot of fun.