Digital Art and Photography by Andrew Haysom - Shoot Extraordinary with Lensbaby

“Shoot Extraordinary” and “Photography is an Expression of the Soul” are both catch cries from advertising material for Lensbaby, a Portland, Oregon based company formed in 2004. Lensbaby manufacture a range of creative lenses and other photography equipment.

I was first introduced to Lensbaby equipment by my dear friend Ali. Ali’s photography mantra was “Chase the Light, Embrace the Blur”, and it is that blur and wild bokeh that give the Lensbaby lenses their magic. When I met Ali, I was a much more straightforward and technical photographer – in my mind everything needed to be straight and sharp. I think Ali made it her own little project to change the way I thought, and she succeeded, she changed me as a photographer, I think more than anyone else has ever done. Not only did she introduce me to Lensbaby but also encouraged me to try Intentional Camera Movement and Multiple Exposures. She really did make me think differently, and more creatively about my photography.

My most treasured lens is my Lensbaby Twist 60, given to me by Ali’s husband after she passed away in 2020.

So, this series of articles is dedicated to my dear friend Ali, one of the most beautiful souls, and one of the best photographers I have known.

Shooting with a Lensbaby is totally different for me than with a traditional lens. It feels raw and soulful and allows you to express yourself in ways that standard lenses don’t.

I’m going to talk about the Lensbaby equipment that I have, but be aware there are other things available, I encourage you to explore their website.

I will include photos of the Lensbaby equipment throughout this article, and there will be a gallery of example images following the article. There will be some of mine, as well as some of Ali’s and some from my friend Judi who has generously agreed to let me share some of her beautiful work. Please look at the images in the gallery to fully understand the magic you can create magic with these lenses.

All of the Lensbaby lenses are fully manual. They do not “talk” electronically to your camera at all. You change the aperture settings of the lens by turning an aperture ring on the lens rather than via your camera. All focusing is manual, via a focusing ring on the Composer Pro II (or on the lens itself in the case of their stand-alone lenses).

As the lens and camera do not “talk” electronically your camera will think there is no lens attached. Depending on your camera you may need to change a menu setting to enable photos to be taken. For my Canon cameras this menu option is called “Release shutter w/o lens”. You will also not receive EXIF information for lens related items such as the aperture used.

All of the Lensbaby lenses are prime lenses, that is they are a fixed focal length rather than zooms. The focal length is shown as part of the lens name, eg the Sweet 35 is a 35mm focal length and the Velvet 56 is a 56mm focal length etc.

The Composer Pro II is a lens housing that is a critical part of the Lensbaby optical swap system (see Figure 1). It is available for Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fuji and Pentax camera mounts. The front of the housing is on a ball joint and can be moved to change the direction of the lens.

Fig 1 - Composer Pro II with Sweet 35 Optic

The Composer Pro II then has a Lensbaby Optic inserted into it to complete the lens, these Optics are easily swapped in the Composer Pro II with a simple twist, push/pull motion. See figure 2 for the range of optics I have in my camera bag.

Fig 2 - My Lensbaby Optic Swap optics

The Optics come in three different “flavours” that each give a different creative effect.

The Sweet Optics (available in 35, 50 and 80mm focal lengths) create a “sweet spot” of sharp focus with blur increasing outwards from the sweet spot. You position the sweet spot in your frame by moving the rotating front of the lens housing in the Composer Pro up and down, left and right or diagonally. The size of the sweet spot of focus is determined by the aperture chosen, with a wide open aperture the sweet spot is small and the blur greater, as you close down the aperture the sweet spot size increases and the blur decreases.

The Edge Optics (available in 35, 50 and 80mm focal lengths) create a “slice” of sharp focus that runs through your image with a smooth gradient of blur either side of the slice. With the Composer Pro II centred in the straight-ahead position the Edge Optics act like a sharp prime lens. If you move the lens up or down you will create a horizontal slice of focus, if you move the lens left or right you will create a vertical slice of focus, and moving the lens into one of the diagonal corners will create a diagonal slice of focus. The Edge Optics can create the classic “miniature” look of a tilt-shift lens.

The Twist Optic (only available in 60mm focal length) creates a distinctive, swirling bokeh in the background, with a sweet spot of focus.

View the Image Gallery at the end of the article to see the different effects.

Some of the Optics (eg Sweet 80, Edge 50 and Edge 80) have a built-in macro feature where you can pull the optic outwards to lengthen the distance between the optic and the sensor to give a closer focus, pushing the optic back in returns to normal mode (see figure 3).

Fig 3 - Macro capability built-in to some optics (Edge 50 pictured)

Another option to replace the Composer Pro II housing is the simpler and cheaper Lensbaby Spark. Rather than a fixed ball joint it is a flexible bellows style barrel that not only allows the re-orientation of the lens like the Composer Pro but also allows you to squeeze/release the bellows to adjust the focus. It creates an even more raw, organic feeling to the Lensbaby experience (see figure 4).

Lensbaby also provide two options for adding macro capability to your Lensbaby Optic Swap kit (see figure 5).

Fig 5 - Macro accessories

There is a set of two Macro Converters (like extension tubes) that fit between the Composer Pro II and the optic to push the optic further from the sensor and reduce the close focusing distance. There is an 8mm converter and a 16mm converter that can be used separately or stacked for a 24mm extension.

Of course, you can also use a standard extension tube between your camera and a Lensbaby Composer Pro or lens.

There is also a set of Macro Filters that screw into the filter thread on the front of the optics, there is a +1, +2 and +4 filter. These can be stacked to increase the magnification effect.

Another bit of equipment that that can be useful is a step-up ring. The Lensbaby optics have a 46mm filter thread, I have a 46-77mm step-up ring that I can use to attach 77mm neutral density and circular polarising filters that I have for my standard lenses to my Lensbaby optics (see figure 6).

Fig 6 - 46-77mm step-up ring

In addition to the Optic Swap system Lensbaby also produce quite a few stand-alone lenses. The only one of these that I own is the Velvet 56 (see figure 7). The Velvet series lenses are designed to create a soft and velvety appearance. They combine a sharp central focus with a smooth, ethereal glow in the out-of-focus areas. Obviously without the flexibility of the Composer Pro or Spark, the focus area is always in the centre of the image.

Fig 7 - Lensbaby Velvet 56

Manual focusing can be very challenging if you’re used to auto-focus, but if you have a mirrorless camera be sure to check out if it has any focus assist features like focus peaking as these can really help. Focus peaking highlights in your viewfinder the areas that are in sharp focus (usually by making them a particular colour). Another technique used by many photographers is to take multiple images physically moving the camera backwards/forwards slightly to change the focus plane, then hopefully you have your subject in sharp focus in one of the photos taken.

Another piece of advice I got from Ali, which was invaluable, was to use a smaller aperture first to get focus and then open the aperture to take the photo. With the wider apertures the focus area can be quite small, so this technique can be very helpful.

Please be sure to look at the Lensbaby image gallery following the article to get a good idea of the types of images that are possible.

Lensbaby lenses empower you to get really creative and artistic with your photography, they allow you to explore light and form with beautiful blur and enable you to take traditional subjects and create something truly unique.

And remember, as Ali would always say, “Embrace the Blur”.