Reviews

My First Impression of the Lensbaby Velvet 56 /  by Todd Henson

The Lensbaby Velvet 56 f/1.6 Lens

Such a beautiful lens! That was my first impression.

I’ve always been curious about the Lensbaby line of lenses and often thought about purchasing one. This year I finally did, choosing the Lensbaby Velvet 56. This particular lens creates a soft, glowing look to photographs. When you stop down the lens all the way (close the aperture to its smallest setting) you will minimize the softness. But as you open the aperture the lens begins to add a really nice soft, ethereal effect which gets softer the wider the aperture.

A red rose photographed with the Lensbaby Velvet 56 using a smaller aperture to lessen the soft, ethereal look.

The lens has a maximum aperture of f/1.6, which allows it to create some very nice bokeh (the beautiful out of focus areas). I’ve included several pairs of sample photographs in this post, one created with a more open aperture than the other to better show some of the effects you can create. Click on any of the photographs to see a larger version.

A red rose photographed with the Lensbaby Velvet 56 using a larger aperture to increase the soft, ethereal look.

As can be seen in some of these photos the Lensbaby Velvet 56 is also useful for shooting macro. It has a minimum focusing distance of 5”, letting you get fairly close to your subject. And you can always use extension tubes if you want to get even closer.

A red rose photographed with the Lensbaby Velvet 56 using a very large aperture to really increase the soft, ethereal look.

I will say it can be a challenge learning to use this lens. It is a fully manual lens. There is no autofocus. You manually change the aperture on the lens (as used to be the case for all lenses, back in the day). And there are no electronic contacts on the lens so the camera doesn’t know what aperture you’ve set.

A pair of pink dianthus photographed with the Lensbaby Velvet 56 using a smaller aperture.

A pair of pink dianthus photographed with the Lensbaby Velvet 56 using a larger aperture.

I have found, at least with the Nikon D500, that I can often use the lens with the camera in Aperture priority mode. The camera doesn’t know the aperture the lens is set to but it can usually meter through the lens, choosing a shutter speed to match the aperture. However, sometimes this fails and I need to switch to Manual mode, setting both the aperture and shutter speed myself. This seems to happen most often in low light situations.

A group of gomphrena flowers photographed with the Lensbaby Velvet 56 using a small aperture to create a sharper image.

A group of gomphrena flowers photographed with the Lensbaby Velvet 56 using a large aperture to create a softer image.

As mentioned there is no autofocus with this lens. You must focus manually. This is not as easy with today’s digital cameras as it was with some of the nice focusing screens in the older film cameras. But as with all things you will get better at this the more you practice, so keep trying. It’s well worth the effort.

A blue balloon flower photographed with the Lensbaby Velvet 56 using a small aperture.

A blue balloon flower photographed with the Lensbaby Velvet 56 using a large aperture.

Some of the effect this lens creates might be possible through software in post-production. And you may be able to replicate some using props, such as tulle or other fabric held over the lens. But it’s very convenient and enjoyable creating these effects with so little effort using just the lens. Not to mention how much more reproducible the effects will be.

A large aperture on the Lensbaby Velvet 56 created a soft glow around this yellow maple leaf.

I will share more photographs created with Lensbaby Velvet 56 in future posts. And I look forward to working more with the lens, exploring what I might be able to create with it. I have some ideas, but no clue yet how they might work out, if at all. That’s part of the fun using a new lens of this sort.

A small aperture on the Lensbaby Velvet 56 allowed me to keep most of this red hibiscus bud in focus.

Have you ever used the Lensbaby Velvet 56 or its longer focal length sibling, the Lensbaby Velvet 85? If so let me know what you thought of it in the comments below.

Pistils of a red hibiscus flower, using a small enough aperture on the Lensbaby Velvet 56 to keep the tips of the pistils in clear focus.

Using a wider aperture on the Lensbaby Velvet 56 created a soft glow to the pistils of this red hibiscus flower.

If you purchase a Lensbaby Velvet lens be sure to get the correct version for your camera’s mount. They make them for Nikon, Canon, Sony, and several other brands, as well.

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The Soul of the Camera by David duChemin /  by Todd Henson

This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. This is at no extra cost to you.

The cover of The Soul of the Camera

The cover of The Soul of the Camera

The Soul of the Camera: The Photographer's Place in Picture-Making feels like a different style of book from some of David duChemin’s previous works, such as Within the Frame (one of my favorites), and Photographically Speaking. And yet I suppose it really is not so different. Each of these books takes a core theme and explores it, trying to convey to the reader its importance and how it might be used to better our photography, and even to learn what better photography means.

In Within the Frame: The Journey of Photographic Vision, the main theme is that of vision. He talks about how creating an emotionally impactful image is greatly enhanced by vision, and he then spends the book going into all the details of what vision entails and how important it is to our development as photographers.

In Photographically Speaking: A Deeper Look at Creating Stronger Images, duChemin continues the discussions from Within the Frame, but with a theme of visual language. What is it? How can we use it to better understand what makes an impactful image, and hopefully as part of this learn to create more impactful images? The book attempts to answer these questions.

The Soul of the Camera is similar to the other two in that it focuses on a theme, that of “the Photographers Place in Picture-Making.” None of these books were very focused on gear or technique and this book is even less so than the others. It centers on topics related to the photographer, such as the need to be open to the world and to creativity, the need of patience both with your craft and with yourself, and the importance of curiosity in developing your creativity.

Pages 106 - 107 of The Soul of the Camera. The chapter on Obedience to Curiosity.

Pages 106 - 107 of The Soul of the Camera. The chapter on Obedience to Curiosity.

Where I suppose this book feels different than the other two is in how the topics are presented. It feels like a book of short essays, each able to stand on its own (perhaps as blog posts), but taken together also able to convey a larger whole. And interspersed between each essay is a collection of duChemin’s photography, all in black and white. So it ends up feeling to me like two books in one: a collection of essays and a portfolio of duChemin’s work.

Pages 54 - 55 of The Soul of the Camera. Photograph from Jodhpur, India, 2016.

Pages 54 - 55 of The Soul of the Camera. Photograph from Jodhpur, India, 2016.

I really enjoyed the photography in The Soul of the Camera. I think I would have been happy with the purchase even if it only contained his photographs. The choice of using only black and white photographs was a good one. There are some very beautiful and impactful images in these pages. You may have seen some of these photographs before in his previous books or on his website, some in color. But he says some of the photographs are new to this book.

Physically, this edition of the book measures about 7 1/4 by 9 1/4 inches. It is a hard bound book, which is actually rather nice. There are a total of 274 pages. If I counted correctly, there are 86 black and white photographs placed between the 26 chapters (or essays), which include an introduction and conclusion.

Pages 64 - 65 of The Soul of the Camera. Photographs from Kenya, 2015.

Pages 64 - 65 of The Soul of the Camera. Photographs from Kenya, 2015.

Would I recommend this book? Absolutely, but not necessarily to everyone. I don’t know if this would be a good first book on photography. Some photography newbies might get something out of it, but I don’t know that I would have. I think I first needed to focus on the more common technical aspects of photography. Once I started feeling more secure in my technical ability then I think I became open enough to learn some of the softer topics that have far more impact on the creation of beautiful and meaningful photographs.

If you are new to David duChemin and his writing then I would start with his first book, Within the Frame. That remains one of my favorite photography books, being about more than the typical technical aspects of the craft. Then I might recommend Photographically Speaking, which continues the discussions of the first. If you are still drawn to his work and inspired by his writing then I would recommend giving The Soul of the Camera a try.

“It is time now to turn our attention to what is ultimately responsible for the making of photographs — the photographers themselves.”
— David duChemin

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Touching the Mekong by Andrea Baldeck /  by Todd Henson

This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. This is at no extra cost to you.

Cover of Andrea Baldeck's Touching the Mekong

Cover of Andrea Baldeck's Touching the Mekong

Andrea Baldeck travels the world learning about and photographing other cultures. For Touching the Mekong she “spent two long sojourns in lands touched by the Mekong,” a river formed by snowmelt in Tibet, flowing through Southeast Asia touching countries such as Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam.

Pages 14 - 15 of Touching the Mekong

Pages 14 - 15 of Touching the Mekong

“Terrains of seductive beauty and variety provoked awe and delight: the jungled mountains of the upper Mekong, the meanders of the Irrawaddy, the placid expanse of the Tonle Sap, the shoreline of the Bay of Bengal.”
— Andrea Baldeck
Pages 32 - 33 of Touching the Mekong

Pages 32 - 33 of Touching the Mekong

Pages 52 - 53 of Touching the Mekong

Pages 52 - 53 of Touching the Mekong

The book opens with a short two-page introduction where Baldeck provides context and texture to the photographs that occupy the rest of its 156 pages. You can feel her passion for the region and its people and you can see in the photographs her early inspiration from publications such as Life and National Geographic.

Pages 74 - 75 of Touching the Mekong

Pages 74 - 75 of Touching the Mekong

“In this highly varied landscape live equally diverse peoples, a cultural patchwork vividly evident at open-air markets and religious festivals, yet also subject to shifting political and economic pressures in a region changing more quickly than can be captured by the camera.”
— Andrea Baldeck
Pages 82 - 83 of Touching the Mekong

Pages 82 - 83 of Touching the Mekong

Pages 150 - 151 of Touching the Mekong

Pages 150 - 151 of Touching the Mekong

Baldeck says her photographs in Touching the Mekong are not a compendium or travelogue, but instead “are vey much a personal account of textured, nuanced, enigmatic moments in a fascinating world.” She has created images that show aspects of the landscape throughout the region and that capture the people in their homes, where they work, and in their places of worship. She has created posed portraits and also candid shots of people going about their life. We see bits and pieces from their lives including details in architecture and in the crafts and products they create.

Touching the Mekong is a book for people interested in other cultures. It provides a way for those of us who may never visit these regions to appreciate, at least in some small way, the people and culture of these locales.