It’s 93° this afternoon with the heat index at 100, so I thought I would practice a little more with my new Lensbaby indoors. The coffee cup is mostly in-focus and sitting on top of some old sheet music. To the left is a set of ear buds along with the mouthpiece to the old tarnished brass bugle that’s in the background. It may be far from perfect, but I did get some practice in bending the lens.

Lensbaby Sweet 50 optic, set at F4.0
Composer Pro II with a Canon EF mount
I have a hard right bend on the lens and it’s tilted slightly up to push the majority of the distortion to the left and down. No macro lens or extension tube was used.

Developed with Darktable 4.8.0

Tags:   coffee cup sheet music ear buds bugle mouthpiece still life photography Lensbaby Sweet 50 Composer Pro II lens bend coffee

© All Rights Reserved

My first stab with a Lensbaby Sweet 50 from earlier this morning. In this capture I used F4, no bend and no marco lens or extension tubes. Not too bad. I did add a light touch of a textured vignette in post-processing to complement the artsy effect of the lens.

Developed with Darktable 4.8.0

Tags:   coneflowers Summer flowers Enabling Garden Altoona Iowa Lensbaby Sweet 50 Composer Pro II July 2024 textured vignette

© All Rights Reserved

A colorful patch of red and gold zinnias photographed at the entrance to the Des Moines Water Works headquarters building on George Flagg Parkway in Des Moines, Iowa.

Lensbaby Sweet 50 optic, set at F4.0
Composer Pro II with a Canon EF mount
No bend or macro lens/tubes used
Full afternoon sun with a light haze

Developed with Darktable 4.8.0

Tags:   Zinnia flowers July 2024 summer Lensbaby Sweet 50 Composer Pro II artistic photography

© All Rights Reserved

A beautiful lily photographed at the Des Moines Botanical Center with a Lensbaby Sweet 50. I used F5.6 on this shot with no bend or macro lens/tube. I lost some sharpness on the tips of the stamen, but I still thought it was a decent photo.

Developed with Darktable 4.8.0

Tags:   lily flower July 2024 Des Moines Botanical Garden Iowa Lensbaby Composer Pro II Sweet 50

© All Rights Reserved

Every time I drive by this sculpture, the iconic song “All You Need Is Love” by John Lennon and Paul McCartney immediately comes to mind. Likewise, this sculpture is also an icon of American Modern Art with “Love” in upper-case letters, arranged in a square, with a tilted letter “O”. This is the signature work of art by artist Robert Indiana. And, if you are old enough to remember, Indiana’s ‘Love’ design was also selected by the US Postal Service as a popular stamp in 1973.

This night photo was taken with a Lensbaby Sweet 50, at the Pappajohn Sculpture Park in Des Moines, Iowa. I used F2.5 with Auto ISO (3200) to get the max amount of blurry lens effects with a fastest exposure time since this was a hand-held shot. Have a happy Sunday and remember, love is all you need.

Developed with Darktable 4.8.0

Tags:   love sculpture modern art public art iconic creative photography night Lensbaby Sweet 50 Composer Pro II artistic lens effects soft blur bokeh optical distortion shadows Robert Indiana metal sculpture Pappajohn Sculpture Park urban Des Moines Polk County Iowa January 2025 hand-held manual focus night photography

© All Rights Reserved