Tag: lensball

Multi-coloured candle through lens ball

By cpadmin

Multi-coloured candle through lens ball

These images show a multi-coloured candle shot through a lens ball in the dark. The candle was originally most of the colours of the rainbow. Over the last two years of intermittent use it is burning down. The head of the candle has formed a bowl which houses liquid wax. The image you see is the work of two evenings playing with different settings. By that I mean different camera settings of course. Additionally I was also moving the lens ball and the candle around, standing them on different bases and trying different amounts of light. I tried the lens ball close to the candle and then at a distance. Getting the candle sharp whilst shooting through the lens ball was also a challenge.

  • Multi-coloured candle through lens ball
    The original image with the candle defying gravity
  • Multi-coloured candle through lens ball
    The final image cut to square with the ball spun round and

Once I had a decent image in Lightroom, the candle is still defying gravity and burning upside down. I therefore put the image through Photoshop and spun the centre part of the image with the ball round 180 degrees.

Then back to Lightroom to cut it to square. I hope that you like the multi-coloured candle through lens ball. The original image as shot through the lens ball is also included to show the differences between that shot and the final one. More attempts to follow!

Use this link to look at more of our images https://www.compassphotography.co.uk/

Lens ball images in the garden

By cpadmin

Lens ball images in the garden. To me, sunflowers are an obvious target for the lens ball. The gallery below shows two images of sunflowers in the back garden. I found that I could capture the sunflower directly in the image as well as in the refraction. Trays and planters of petunias at the front of the house also made a target and one of them appears in the gallery below. To get the lens ball to the correct height I had to erect apparatus! This included the black and decker workmate, a plant pot and a towel. I also played with different focal lengths. All very worthwhile and enjoyable!

  • Small pastel colours
    Smaller lens ball image of pastel colours
  • Closer up sunflowers lensball
    Close up of sunflower through the lensball
  • Sunflowers through the lens ball
    Garden sunflowers through the lens ball
Lens ball images captured in the garden

The Compass Photography Website contains more lens ball images. Click here

Alternative sunflowers

By cpadmin

Alternative sunflowers. 2020 has been a good year for sunflowers in my garden. Most of the ones I have grown have dwarf varieties, Little Leo and Teddy Bear. I could not get out to buy packets of tall sunflower seeds due to lockdown. Both varieties grow approximately three feet high. Little Leo is a classic sunflower with long yellow petals, just like the sun’s rays. Teddy bear has a pompom head. It works by starting the flowers as a fringe on the outside and working towards the centre to complete the pompom.

  • Alternative sunflowers
    A pompom sunflower “Teddy Bear”
  • Alternative sunflowers
    Sunflower pot through the lens ball

The weather also brought some great opportunities for photographing the sunflowers. one of my birthday presents was a lens ball. I decided to experiment with it and the sunflowers were the first subject. A lens ball is a glass sphere which can be used to capture images. The process of refraction turns the image upside down. You have to use software to correct that afterwards. Two images are attached. One showing the “Teddy bear” variety. The lens ball captures the second image. I hope you like the images of alternative sunflowers. This web page has more images of my sunflowers.

I do have some tall sunflowers, these are self-set ones!