Lens Whacking.

A few weeks ago, I saw on the the Philip Bloom blog about lens whacking.

This made me lead to look into old primes such as the Nikon AIS 35mm and 50mm, this is because of it's organic look that you won't get from "digital" lenses, which can enhance the effect of lens whacking.  But I will get into these lenses in the near future.

I liked the effect, of how the lens flair is all in camera and can give that tilt shift look.  I think for anybody wanting that look, tilt shift can be budget way of gaining it.  Although it will take a lot of practice to achieve.

Here's a video from the Philip Bloom post of James Miller "Romance of the Light."

So after, looking at a few lens whacking videos, I wanted to create my own.

I remember, my dad owning an old Minolta SLR with two lens.  After finding it, I took my 60D and started playing with.  It doesn't matter, if the lens is not mounted on the body.  To gain the effect, some light must be exposed to the back of the lens to get that flair.  (Please correct me if I'm wrong, I'm not that technical and still learning the craft).

This what I used.

Minolta 35mm f/2.8 and the Canon EOS 60D.

And here's my test with my nephew, Jaxon.



From next week, I will be doing series of Lens Whacking video.  I will post them up on Facebook first.

Colindale - Hendon

So I get to test out the EF-S 18-135mm, but I used it for stills.  I think for video, it's not good for low light, but taking stills with it, is surprisingly good.  Now I'm not a stills person, but I did dable with photos in college.  When practicing with stills, it can give you a good indication of what your image may look like for video/film and can be good practice to work with lens range, especially if you want to work as DoP or Cinematographer.

So why did I decide to take pictures of my walk from Colindale to Hendon.  The reason for this, is because I was bored, I didn't do enough in my morning jog and I'm planning to do a short film in Hendon.  I went through the new Beaufort Park, Sunny Hill Park and Hendon Park.  I caught a few friends playing basketball at and decided to take a few snaps.  The 60D and lens works well taking fast action shots, especially with sports.  I also did some video, however I didn't have enough content to put it all together.  But thanks to Sean, Quincey and the others.  Sorry I don't know your names.
(Which reminds me, I have a basketball video that I've done during the summer.  I will post that up later)

I then took some pictures around Hendon on the interjection of the A41.  Since it was dark and the only source of light is coming from the cars and shops, I though I can get creative and play with the shutter, to give that effect of the cars speeding away.  This makes me want to do a time-lapse piece.  The thing is, I'm quite anti time-lapse.  It's just, a lot of people are doing it, so it's hard to make yours different.  But I'm up for the challenge.

Anyways, here are the pictures from that day.  Please give feedback, I like to hear what you guys think.

Testing in low light.

As an owner of the Canon EOS 60D, I didn't really take it out for a spin. Well I am using it for the film I am shooting, but never took any stills with it. So after a trip from Camden around 9pm, I've decided to take some pictures on my way home from Burnt Oak station.

There is nothing special about the shots, this is really a test to see what it looks like in low light. I've used my mate Edward's Nikon Nikkor 28mm f/2.8 Lens. A pretty good lens, I would really like to get my hands on a Canon 28mm f/2.8 to compare the difference. Actually I want to get my hands on the Zeiss Compact Primes, but that would be somewhere in the future.

I have my sights on the Canon 50mm f/1.8 II. I was really off put with it, because it's made out of plastic. But I was using it for the reshoots of "Emergency Exits" and works like a charm. So if anyone can donate me £70 for that lens, you're more than welcome.  L.O.L.

 So then to tomorrow... The second week of reshoots.