Pier Hut. Plastic Optic, f/4, Lensbaby Composer

Pier Hut. Plastic Optic, f/4, Lensbaby Composer, originally uploaded by scalespeeder.

Having experimented with the Double Glass and Pinhole Optic, today I slipped the Plastic Optic into my Lensbaby Composer and headed out on my "go-to" Photowalk - Fort Brockhurst to Priddys Hard.



The plastic optic gives an overall softer feel, reminiscent of Holgas, Dianas and kids cameras. You still get the fall off from the sweet spot in blur / softness, but the sweet spot itself isn't as sharp as on the Double Optic.

Unfortunately the light was very grey and flat - typical overcast English Weather. I was hoping for some Sunshine to bring out the best in the Plastic Optic, but I think I did OK and I'm sure we'll have some bright-crisp weather to look forward to as the Autumn draws on.

I did a little practice in our Garden with the Lensbaby Plastic Optic before I went out, trying different apertures to get one that was a good compromise between overall softness and the look I wanted. I found that f/4 looked promising, and that's the f-stop I used for all these photo's.

Post processing was done in Adobe Camera Raw, where I pumped up the contrast, then the Black and Whites were worked on in Nik Silver Efex Pro. The vignettes you see are artificial enhancements made in the Nik software, I like the way they add a vintage feel to the images.

I have to say that I really like the Lensbaby Composer Plastic Optic. The shots are pinhole-like, without the complication of bringing a tripod along and using long exposures.



Another winner for the Lensbaby Composer and my Canon Eos 350d / Digital Rebel XT.



Thanks, Rob.