Okay, I'm convinced now: I just gotta a) win the Creative Point of View contest and win a Lensbaby, or b) eat peanut butter sandwiches for a month so I can save up to buy a Lensbaby.

I love what the depth-of-field hocus focus does to my brain's idea of what's going on. Another good un.

Hi Dave,

This image works very well as a black and white image. The dark contrast helps bring out the details in areas such as the bricks and isolating the poles from the windows and entrance ways. However, for this shot, I am not keen about the level of blur and distortion on the left hand side, I think it is to much. Chris

I am going to be honest with you: This image I do not like. In the beginning I thought it must be a wooden model of this building... Maybe I am simply missing a background... :-)

Wow image!

Heh.. At first I thought it was a tilt-shift lens result, then I learned it was a Lensbaby.
Now I ask myself (and puzzled I haven't done it till now) - What's the difference between a TILT-SHIFT lens by definition and Lensbaby?

Dan: thanks, and good luck :)

Chris: I think the problem is that the sweet spot of focus should be more to the right, but I take your point.

Mirko: I do appreciate that this style of shot isn't to everyone's taste.

Ilan: a T/S lens shifts the plane of focus while the Lensbaby adds a sweet spot of focus, around which the rest of the image becomes progressively blurred. The two effects can looks quite similar though.

I feel surprised that I like the preview embedded track. Downloading the rest now.

This may be a dumb question but what is a lensbaby?

Briony: take a look at the Lensbaby website:

    http://www.lensbaby.com

Like this one, nice tones. I'll have to get out more and use my lensbaby ;) nice one.

I have to agree with a privious comment, the blur on the left hand side for me is to much. Would it be possible to re-edit to match the right hand side and display?

Loverly angle on the building though.

Gary: in this case the blur is a consequence of the lens, not the post-production, so it can't really be changed. The amount of blur with a Lensbaby depends on the aperture - the bigger the aperture, the more blurred the shot - so the only way to get a less blurred version would be to reshoot using a smaller aperture.

Nice image and a nice effect!

Mate, having NEVER used a lensbaby, or even had my hands on one, I dont know what to say =-) other than that I'm interested in seeing some more...... I like this shot, it feels very much like a model village, and the scale is meddling with my head.
All the more reason to have a bash at the competition to try and win that bad boy!....... csj

Cool - yep it does look a little like a model but I like it.

Great and elegant!! I like the contrast between the blur in the peripheral and the definition and sharpness of the vertical columns.

Dave,

Fascinating image. It does appear to be a small model... something that a guy in a rubber Godzilla suit might step on at any moment. This is not to say that I don't appreciate the shot. The undecided architecture of the building adds to the skewed scale.

Carlos

Pondering on your articulation of why you're not completely happy with it, Dave...Could it be that it's rather flat, as in 2 dimensional? I know people may jump at that and shout "but a photograph is 2 dimensional!" but you know what I mean....there's nothing in the image to convey any depth so it ends up looking like a blurred image with a bit masked out.

Just my initial thought on looking at it and reading your opening to the description. I don't think it's the left side either...I think it's the sky. There's something that doesn't quite hit the sweet spot isn't there....and I'm going with that 2D perception.

Hi David,

I'm wondering how you know the aperture for the photo. The little aperture rings that I have for my lensbbay dont have any indication of the aperture written on them, I usually just guess, so I'm interested how you worked it out?

Cheers
Jonathan

This is a very interesting composition, especially with the lensbaby, the black and white and semi fake tilt shift give it a strange feeling. I like it a lot.

Thanks for the link to the music! I like the 'toytown' look of images produced using the lensbaby and TS lenses.

i'm always fascinated by what you can do with a lensbaby or a tilt/shift, and this is no exception. i think it makes a not-so-interesting subject a lot more compelling!

wp.

fantástico trabajo

enhorabuena

... saludos...

David-
Love the shot! very nice B&W as well. I thought TS when it first loaded but now I am convinced... 85 1.8 then the composer... my new wish list... I also enjoyed your side trip into artist collaboration. It strikes at a bit of what I think Mr. Hobby & Jarvis were hitting at a few weeks ago. Your example as well as the finished product for us to enjoy helped tie it all together... Well done. Now I am off to brew some coffee (come on tea? I live in Seattle!) and enjoy some of the album.

Cheers-
Adam

Really nice work! Love the lens effect!

wow this is excellento... the blury edges are a great effect... and the harsh black contrast creates a really intertesting composition.. the sky is aslo really deep and moody... great work..

Great shot - It's true it does have some T/S qualities, the model building look too it. I definitely need to experiment some more with my own. Nice tones too :-)

Great frame, thanks for sharing!

I think the interesting aspect of this photograph is not so much the center focused lensbaby effect but a total lack of people in the scene. It makes it eerie.

Beautiful shot. I'm normally not a big fan of Lensbaby shots, but this one is really nice. Good colors too.

nice capture. congrats!

Ah! the Marine Hall Fleetwood, probably the only place in the world where the Beatles appeared and were booed at!
Nice shot its always nice to see the local land marks.

What a wonderful surreal picture!