Have you ever tried freelensing?

Freelensing is a photography technique where you remove your lens from the camera body and hold it unmounted in front of the sensor. You can then move the lens around and create dreamy, tilt-shift-esque images with light leaks and a shallow depth of field. It’s not the safest photography technique, but most extreme sports aren’t safe either. And for some of us, this is as extreme as it gets!

Imagine, if you will, juggling a camera with a lens that’s not attached. You’re crouched in some awkward position, core fully engaged, leg muscles on fire. One hand holds the camera body and contorts to adjust camera settings, while the other hand grips the loose lens and tentatively releases an awkward pinky finger to push wayward flower stems out of the shot. Meanwhile, your reading glasses are sliding off your face and you attempt to correct them with a no-hands nose jiggle, which is fine on a normal day, but it’s Spring in your corner of the world (hayfever season), and you know you’re playing with fire.

You do all of this, just so you can capture that one perfect bloom right in the centre of the plant you’re shooting, all the while knowing you still need to come away with your lens undamaged and your expensive camera intact.

If that’s not an extreme sport, I don’t know what is!

My favourite lens for this technique is the Canon 50mm 1.8. It is a lighter weight lens, and easier to handle, than my other lenses.

The 50mm is great for macro photography too. All you need to do is turn the lens around and shoot through the front of the glass. It’s the same prime lens, but it will bring you much closer to the subject.

You can see a comparison in the next two images:

The macro side of this technique is so cool, but it’s not for everyone. For example, this little bee got annoyed at me following it around while it was trying to work. It kept darting at my head!

After a few shots, I respectfully left it in peace and headed back to the simple flowers.

Indeed, freelensing flowers is safer and far less intrusive than annoying the native wildlife.

But my favourite photo’s are still the ones of the bees.

I’m not the first viewfinder to write about freelensing: you can check out a few earlier posts by Michelle GD, Deb Achak and a guest post by Tara Soucy.

If you’re keen to give freelensing a go, here are a couple of other photographers who have also written detailed instructions on how to go about it: Amy Elizabeth, Shoot it with Film and Holly Donovan, The Click Community.

Until next time, have fun creating.

Jacqui x

SAFETY NOTE: whenever you remove a lens from the body of the camera, you are opening up your camera’s delicate sensor to potential dust and damage. So please choose your weather and surroundings carefully.