What’s Your Preference?

wulf · #1 (**permalink**) 08-13-2007, 06:57 AM

I was at a family gathering on Saturday, which was a party for my sister-in-law. She has very limited vision and so makes a lot of use of magnifying glasses to see details. Having taken plenty of people shots, I decided to do some experiments with one of these handheld lenses:

It was hard to get a sharp image because of holding the camera in one hand, the magnifying glass in the other and trying to keep it all steady. However, I got some interesting results (the three I am keeping are up on my Flickr account).

Has anybody else tried this idea? How did your shots come out?

Wulf

madhatas · #2 (**permalink**) 08-13-2007, 07:32 AM

How odd, not the pictures but I was sorting a shed out at the weekend and saw an old magnifying glass and wondered if it could be used to help in macro photos... so I guess the answer is yes.

I like the 3 pictures btw.

Cheers

Tim

wulf · #3 (**permalink**) 08-13-2007, 08:45 AM

Give it a try - at worst, you will end up with some shots you don't want to keep. If you get anything you like, then post it back here.

Wulf

Sime · #4 (**permalink**) 08-13-2007, 10:37 AM

Have shot through sunglasses and once through a pair of reading spectacles, but never through a magnifying glass.. interesting!

Saralonde · #5 (**permalink**) 08-13-2007, 11:56 AM

I think I'll give this a try, but with my shaky handheld abilities, I probably will need to use a tripod for my magnifying glass, too

!

matthewchj · #6 (**permalink**) 08-13-2007, 04:01 PM

Nope, haven't tried this...

But (yes, this is gonna sound REALLY weird) I have shot through the lens and viewfinder of an SLR in reverse. What I did was to attach the lens with the biggest aperture that I could find (50mm 1.8) onto an old film slr (EOS 888) and then put the subject behind the viewfinder of the 888. I then positioned my XT with kit lens to point directly at the 50 such that the two front elements were touching together. Then I took the picture using the XT.

Sorry for hijacking the thread!

YoAshnish · #7 (**permalink**) 08-13-2007, 04:40 PM

I haven't tried it yet, but the idea popped into my head last week. Currently, can you believe it, I do not have a magnifying glass? I am sure I can pick one up without too much damage to my budget

. When I do, I'll post a result back here.
My favorite of your experiment is the one you posted here. I really like the shades of pink and white!

wulf · #8 (**permalink**) 08-13-2007, 04:47 PM

Yes - please do post your experiments back here (that includes you, matthewchj - we want to see what your shot came out like

).

Wulf

mysticeyesx · #9 (**permalink**) 08-13-2007, 06:39 PM

what a kool idea. will have to experiment now

madhatas · #10 (**permalink**) 08-13-2007, 08:16 PM

Here is my go with a magnifying glass. The picture is of some crayons we left in a car on a hot day and they melted. The photo with a magnifying glass was taken with just a table lamp and the white balance is all wrong, but I think it adds to the wierd effect.

This is a bigger picture showing the whole thing.

Cheers

Tim