Bulbous rush

This year was the first that I really noticed this small plant: bulbous rush (Juncus bulbosus / knolrus). Because I love to play with drops I went close to the borders of the ever decreasing fens. Everything sparkled with dewdrops and the rushes are great subjects for tiny landscapes. The flowers are more brown than red, but I increased the hue on orange and red et voila!

Most of these pictures were made with the Lensbaby Velvet 56. When the light was still very soft I used F2.0 to create a soft glow and also the bokeh rings. The rings are out of focus drops close to the lens (before focus). I love to play with that.

It was dry and hot for a few weeks, as if it would never rain again. But once it started it rained almost every day and between the bulbous rush this very fine grass appeared. The yellow stuff is moss (Sphagnum). It holds the water and forms thick soft layers. Nice if you are on your knees!

I made many pictures of these plants, not only because I like them but also because sitting there in the morning, with the sun slowly climbing behind the trees, everything sparkling, was such a joy!

The Velvet 56 is perfect for macro. If you don't want the glow you just close the aperture a bit more.

I like all the little details in these pictures.

Leaves from the reeds had fallen on the ground and were also covered with dewdrops. It looks like a bridge to me.

You may notice that this picture looks a bit different. It was made with a different lens: the Pentacon 50 mm, 1.8. It is a vintage lens that I instantly loved. Although I have to say that I checked if this was made with the Pentacon, because it also has many features of the Velvet if you see them next to each other.


Wide open it gives a bit of a swirl and it is very soft, although this also depends on the light of course!

The sun came up around 6:30 and I was usually in the field around 7:00. Where I go the sun rises behind the trees and even though there is a lot of light, at first it is filtered and soft. Once it reaches the top of the trees everything is blazing in sunlight. The last picture was made under these conditions and you can immediately see the effect. Although with a very soft lens this can even be pleasing. This lens stole my heart!

Burnside 35

How wonderful is it to get a chance to test a lens before it is out? In December I received the Lensbaby Burnside 35 to try. It is a proper lens (not an optic) with swirley bokeh and - this is very new - a second aperture. The second aperture controls the amount of vignette and it also affects the image in other ways.

December is not the best for macro (dead crap season ;)) but I was lucky that on the days I went out there were rain showers and sunshine: sparkles! I could play with backlight and raindrops.

The idea was to make macro pictures of my favorite subjects. In December that would be moss. You can get close to the subject with this lens (within 15 centimeters) but I found that there was still too much in the frame for tiny stuff. The solution was to add a 12 mm extension tube, but the point was to first test the lens as is, as macro as I could get! So I looked for other subjects: big pine needles with raindrops.

With this kind of light the bokeh is quite wild. I like the oval shape of the bokeh towards the sides of the frame. Compared to the Twist 60, the bokeh of Burnside is more like that of Helios, a vintage lens (the second picture was cropped to get a better composition).

I fell in love with Lensbaby lenses because of the shape of the bokeh and the magic the lens creates. On the first day I tested the second aperture to observe the effect. When you close an aperture, the shape of the blades is reflected in the bokeh. I did not like this at first and used it mostly wide open. Therefore the vignette is also not visible in these pictures.

When the light is softer, the effect is softer too (both apertures open).

Because the moss was very beautiful I added a 12 mm extension tube to get the proper magnification. This was just perfect for what I hoped to achieve. Here I closed the second aperture. It adds more drama and the swirl also becomes stronger. The change in the shape of the bokeh is obvious. I think what threw me off in the beginning was that there was already a lot in the frame and closing the aperture made it even more wild and crowded.

The moss is growing on an old tree-trunk, wet from the rain. The light is in front of the lens.


I can't wait to try more with these settings and on different subjects like dewy grass and spider webs.

This was taken from a larger distance while I was taking shelter from the rain.  The swirly bokeh is clearly visible. Both apertures wide open and just the lens (no extension).

The colors also come out very nice. I love this about all Lensbabies. Again at close focus with both apertures open (Burnside without extension). In spring this will be great for images of flowers, subjects that are a bit bigger than moss. Only for the really small stuff you might want to add an extension tube. With a lot of sparkles in the background in soft light, this will be exquisite.

Needless to say that I enjoyed this lens very much and that I am curious to see the results of other photographers!

(click the first picture to get a bigger and better view)

Go here for the Burnside blog on Lensbaby.com