Freelensing

Recently, I've been hearing a lot about "freelensing" and was inspired to try after Jessica from Five Sixteen Photography had started playing around with the technique. "Freelensing" is when the lens is NOT firmly mounted to the body. That's right, the lens is detached from the camera. But, focus remains because you hold the lens very close to the camera. It's tricky and it definitely takes a lot of practice to get this technique down. It does require you to know your camera and know how to shoot manually, especially because your camera won't be able to tell you a correct exposure and auto focus is gone. 

Once you get the hang of it, though, you get some AWESOME effects and there are some serious benefits to this style of shooting. You can get some really heavy and gorgeous bokeh going on, a tilt shift effect, and you can manipulate one shot so many different ways. 

I had so much fun trying out this method and I definitely plan on working on this technique more. Right  now, I only have standard lenses that don't have a great aperture range. This allows me to get a lot more blur in photos and really fine tune in on focal points, both of which are things that I'm dying to get in my next lens. Until then, I'll have more than a fair share of fun making due with this. As much as the idea scares me, I can't wait to try this technique out with portraits and people. 

For the most part, all these pictures are from our backyard or from a cemetery that's just up the hill from our house. Amazing how many different pictures I can get of just a few things, right?