Panoramic photos were the realm of the professional with the time and funds to create gorgeous super wide angle shots.

Colorado River - Stitched from 33 images Copyright Peter West Carey

But now, in the digital age, it’s not only simple to create panoramic images on your home computer, it’s become increasingly easier thanks to advances in software. There are still some general guidelines to follow to help you increase your odds of producing great photos because remember, you can’t fix everything in a computer after the fact. I’ve made a number of mistakes over the years in learning about panoramas and it’s my hope that these guidelines will help shorten your learning curve and give you a head start in creating stunning panoramic images.

1. If Your Camera Has A Panorama Mode, Use It.

Most point and shoot cameras beyond the most basic model come with a little used mode for creating panoramic images. This mode serves a couple of functions. First, it will use the display on the camera to show your last picture taken and then a live view of the next picture. This is done to help you line up you images and overlap them(we’ll talk about the importance of overlap in a minute). It also adjusts the camera to NOT change exposure settings in between shots as it normally would. This helps create even lighting through all the pictures, making stitching in the computer a lot easier (although a number of modern programs will also level exposure fairly well). The image below was created while using the Panorama Mode (Stitch Mode on some cameras) and taking over 25 images with an older Canon SD630 point and shoot.

BoulderRiver - Stitched from 26 images - Copyright Peter West Carey

2. Overlap Amply

Overlapping is one of the important areas in creating a panoramic image. Just one slip with not enough overlap can ruin an attempt at the grandest of wide angle shots. No one wants to see pictures of the Grand Canyon with a bar of white down the middle because of the failure to overlap properly. I overlap by 30% each time. Sometimes more. Most people say 15% works just fine. Experiment with your particular camera to find the sweet spot of overlap. Increasing the amount of overlap helps reduce “flaring” that happens when the software is forced to use all of the image frame, including the corners which may show distortion depending on your lens selection.

3. Keep It On The Level

Keeping your camera level becomes more important as you combine more images. If you’re shooting four or five images there isn’t much your need to worry about. But if it’s a monster 40 image shot, it becomes more and more important to keep things on the level. Think of it this way; your lens is a curved peice of glass. When held level, all parts of the scene in front of it come in and hit the sensor and roughly the same angle. But if you point that camera down, say 45 degrees you now have distant objects, like mountains in the background, coming in at a much sharper angle than foreground objects. For a single picture, this isn’t a problem, but for a panorama it creates a fan effect which is not so easily fixed in the computer. What this means is as you pan the camera left to right, the distant objects will fan out and may not have ample overlap. Further, they will be more distorted and curved because of the angle their light enters the camera.

This is best shown in my own example below, taken at Bryce Canyon, Utah, back in 2005. I attempted to point my DSLR down too far in order to catch more of the canyon. But what happened instead is the distant horizon became naturally distorted as I used a 16mm lens. This distortion was too much to over come in the computer afterwards and the result was the choppy image you see here. The foreground detail lines up right, but not the distant horizon.

Copyright Peter West Carey

4. Choosing Your Metering Well

Here’s another lesson I learned the hard way. If you are using a DSLR or other camera that doesn’t have the nifty Panorama Mode, you’ll want to set your metering mode to manual. Otherwise you’ll end up with an image like this.

Copyright Peter West Carey

Can you see the difference in exposure in the skyline? The computer was able to adjust well enough to the foreground canyon, but failed to even out the sky all the way. Had I set the camera to manual, this would not happen. It’s also important to even out your metering, meaning scan the entire scene making note of the aperture and shutter speeds your camera is suggesting, then pick one pair of settings in the middle, or slightly darker to make sure any sky details is preserved. With those shutter and aperture settings dialed in, it’s time to shoot away.

5. Check The Scene For Movement

Movement in the scene can be a thief of what would otherwise be a grand shot. Sometimes the blur, or doubling up of people, cars, planes or other moving objects is acceptable. But too many blurry spots (caused when the computer finds parts of the overlapping sections where things don’t line up) can ruin the shot. It may mean you need to take the images very quickly. And sometimes, that movement is just unavoidable.

6. Be Careful with Super Wide Angle Lenses

Referencing the image in #3 above again, my second mistake in that image was using too wide of a lens. If I had gone with something closer to a 50mm lens and made multiple passes at the scene, the distortion in the distance would have been lessened and perhaps the shot could have been salvaged. A great wide angle lens does not always produce great panoramic shots. Sometimes it’s better to let the stitching software do what it does best and make multiple passes of the same scene, with ample overlap, to create your masterpiece.

7. Look Up, Look Down, Look All Around

With new software you are not limited to just a single pass from left to right to capture your desired image so don’t be afraid to make more than one pass. Start with the initial pass from left to right (or top to bottom) and then move up or down to grab more detail and make another pass. Remember the overlapping rule above and how it will now pertain to not only the sides of the shot, but also the top and bottom overlaps. Keep it tight and your image can have the added quality of extra skyline or foreground features previously missed.

8. Don’t Forget Vertical Panoramas!

Vertical shots are often overlooked. The same principles apply to verticals shots as do horizontal images. It may help to turn the camera on its side or you may find keeping the camera in a horizontal orientation works. Experiment a little with buildings and waterfalls and then start looking for other verticals you can shoot.

These are just a few of the basic guidelines to help you not make all the mistakes I have made in learning how to shoot panoramas over the years. You don’t need fancy, expensive cameras to create nice panoramic images, just a little known how and practice.

Do you have any particularly helpful panorama tricks you’ve learned? Share them in the comments section below and feel free to link to examples of great images as well.

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What kept me from shooting clean studio like portraits was the mistaken belief that I needed loads of expensive equipment.

One day a friend of mine approached me about photographing his band. He had just gotten new management and wanted to make the band band look pro. He started by showing me some photography he liked and we started talking about what could and could not be done. One of the shots he like was a clean shot with dramatic lighting again a black background. I told him that would be tough but I’d try, and so we did.

Not having a studio or lighting I started getting creative and went into the garage to see what I had. I had a couple of ladders, string, clamps, 8’ pole, a black bed sheet and some tape. I decided to shoot outside in my front yard and use sun light. I knew that I wanted to reflect light so I bought a couple of sheets of 2”x4” white foam-board from the local hardware store. After getting my things together I was ready to go try it out.

The equipment:

• Two fold-open ladders
• Two black bed sheets
• A 8’ pole
• String
• Two sheets of 2”x4” white foam board
• Tape
• Tripod
• Camera (Canon 10D)

The rigging:

I setup my two “fold-open” ladders opposite each other and tied the 8’ pole to the front edge of both. I tied a couple of weights to the bottom step of each ladder. I then taped the black bed sheet to the top of the pole across from one end to the other making sure to keep it as clean as I could. I found another black sheet to put on the grass in front of the backdrop.

Lighting:

Using the sun was going to be a challenge as it was one-directional, so I used the two sheets of foam-board to reflect the light onto the guys faces and add fill-in lighting. As I was shooting digital I was able to look at the results right away and change the angles right away.
Tip: If shooting outside have a small sheet you can pull over your head and camera when reviewing the shot on a digital camera, this will greatly help you see what you shot without the reflections and the sun light dimming your view.
I spent some time getting the look I wanted with and playing with angles. They had some black hats and clothing so I tried to create some trim lighting to make the hats and clothing pop from the black background.

The shoot:

I knew I was going to have to darken the background sheet in photoshop, so I made sure to keep it clean and smooth as much as possible. The creases could become a big job to fix in photoshop so I tried to keep them to an absolute minimum. During I took time to get the band guys to get comfortable and challenge them to try facial expressions and “looks” I wanted to make sure they would look like a band and not goofy. I had some sample photos that I would show them to see if they could duplicate. The funny thing was that within 30min a nice group of neighbors had come to see what we where doing. This was fun but also distracting, so I made sure that we stayed focused.

Tip: As the photographer take charge, remember you are going to get the best results by keeping things under control and minimizing distractions. Also keep checking your shots for bad reflections, shadows, expressions and wardrobe issues. Remember, it’s better to fix right there than afterward in photoshop.

One of the guys wanted Latin text painted on his chest, we shot some shots but I thought it was to strong so at the end I suggested trying to put a T-shirt on over it and wet the T-shirt “just to see what it would look like” That shot really turned out great. Be flexible and try out some stuff (after you are sure you have want you wanted) in this case, wetting him would have hindered other shots we wanted had i not shot them first.

The result:

The shoot turned out to be great and a load of fun! I was very happy with the results and to this day people think it was shot in a studio with lighting equipment. The band was ubber happy and I was too. For a no-budget shoot and not having any pro-equipment the results were very convincing and opened the door for me to do some other paid shoots and actually buy equipment. Years later I now shoot with lighting equipment, but have to say that, that shoot was one of the most fun and a great paradigm shift for me.
As a photographer the tools you have are just that; tools. You can make great looking shots with some creativity and some random stuff around your home. Money and equipment should not limit you from pushing the limits. So go have fun with it.

A Diagram to Show How it Was Done:

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You have a booking for portraits with an outgoing, dramatic, painter and beautician. It ends up being a rainy day, so the shoot will prove to test your creative expertise indoors without anything but your camera and an on camera flash. When you arrive at her studio apartment, you are relieved: there is light to go around. After a greeting and some small talk you quickly take stock of what you have:

Large bay windows that gently wraps the light around skin, and reflects in gorgeous catch-lights and a moveable chair. Perfect.

You know exactly what you are going to do.
You clear the space in front of the window and position the chair toward it. “Okay, let’s get some shots with you facing the window first.” Your subject sits straight up in the chair first and you take a few test shots.
Your settings:

• Manual Mode: Enabling you to get advanced exposure with highlights and shadows
• Shallow depth of field [2.8]: Throwing the window frame out of focus and isolating the eyes and face
• Moderate shutter speed [200/s]: To capture just enough of plenty light
• Fill flash: To fill in on the face with shots away from the window

After a few moments of experimenting, and commenting on the beauty of your model, you are ready to start.

You have your model relax into the chair. She leans back easily. She is facing the window limiting the room you have before her. Once again, you remember how much you are aiming for creative shots. You analyze your angles in action, determined to try something new.

“I’m going to get right in front of you here,” you begin and move some hair from your model’s eyes. “Lets have you look up at me right here…” Once she looks up, the light reflects in her eyes with luminous catch-lights.

“Gorgeous!” You exclaim, unable to mask your excitement. You show your model the image. She breathes deep. “Oh, I love it!”

Shot one. Oh yeah.

After a few more shots, you change things up. “Let’s have the window behind you this time. And we’ll go for full body.” You use a smaller chair this time, but don’t want to do a “normal” sitting pose. “Are you game for a little different?” Your model grins and nods. “Let’s do it.” You have her sit with her legs over the arm’s edge, and for extra slimming, coach her to cross one leg over the other. You arrange her arms in triangles, creating an elegant casual feel.

For this shot, you need a bit of fill flash – but not too much. You want to create some drama with the highlights and shadows. You flash the light up to the ceiling to gently cascade on your model without filling too much. To emphasize the dramatic mood, you have your model look down to the ground.

“Okay, here we go!”

It takes a few more test shots than before, but once again, you come out with the image you dreamed about. The lighting is exquisite. The pose perfect. The mood dramatic. And the contrast to die for.

Best of all, your client is just as happy with the image as you are.

After the shoot, you get a check, and load your gear back in the car. The rain continues to fall gently outside and you smile.

Who knew that a rainy day would facilitate with the perfect image of window light drama?

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Get back to base and you download your collection of shots, maybe send some to friends over the Web, perhaps make some prints for the album.

But take a good look at your work over the last year or so. How’s the colour? OK? So so? Or just plain brilliant?

If your answer was ‘brilliant’ maybe you’d better move on. You probably don’t need my help.

But maybe now you’re starting to wonder if the colour in your digital images is really as exciting and vibrant as it should be. If so, read on.

Jumbo Tail

Sometimes your camera’s auto exposure system gets fooled by the scene’s overall brightness, a hot sky or even a bright light that may not even be in shot.

Result? Murky whites, dull sky, flat colour.

One way to fix this is to adjust the camera’s exposure before shooting by using compensation, opening up the lens by a half or even a full f stop. Most cameras have this feature.

But, if you were unaware of the fault at the time, all is not lost. ‘Back at the ranch’ you can usually fix it in software by raising the general light level of the scene or, in such applications as Photoshop, adjusting the highlight and shadow levels.

Chevy

Now for some fun. This shot of a 50s Chevy was made in dull, grey light. Unusually, the car was virtually the only colour in the scene, with the houses behind rendered in greys and soft whites.

First, the car’s blue colour was given a starring role by setting highlight and shadow levels in Photoshop. Boring!

Then the car was ‘repainted’ in pink, by adjusting Hue in Hue/Saturation, then highlight/shadow levels reset.

Mustard or pink anyone? Same method: Hue was adjusted in Hue/Saturation, then highlight/shadow levels reset.
Go for it!

Sometimes I shoot pictures that have only one strong element: flashy colour. Two examples are the red car and the indigo wall. Love ‘em!

The only caution I can offer when making images that have an overpowering colour: set up a strong composition, with a forceful foreground element.

Tricks of the Trade

If you’re after accurate colour it pays to make the corrections at the time of the original exposure: if the weather is cloudy, adjust the colour balance setting; if you’re shooting inside, make the colour balance suit the prevailing light quality.

You can work marvels on colour rendering with even the most basic software.

Take care with shots of people; unless you’re after a Dracula effect, the human face is very unappealing when the colour is off beam.

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Third Eye Camera

Designed to study the beauty of decay.

4”x5” camera made from Aluminium, Titanium, Brass, Silver, Gem Stones and a 150 year old skull of a 13 year old girl. Light and time enters at the third eye, exposing the film in the middle of the skull.

Untouchable (HIV Camera)

Designed to study and photograph a geographic comparison of people suffering from HIV.

4”x5” camera made from Aluminium, Copper, Titanium, Acrylic and HIV positive blood. The blood pumps through the camera then in front of the pinhole and becomes my #25 red filter. Designed to shoot a geographic comparison of people suffering from HIV.

Heart Camera

Designed to take photos of soon-to-be mothers who are at least 8 months pregnant, and explore my relationship with my twin brother who died at birth.

4”x5” camera made from Aluminium, Titanium, Acrylic, Formaldehyde and an infant human heart.

Dragonfly Camera

Designed to study and photograph time segments of children.

4”x5” camera made as an altar for a 9 year old girl that passed away. Made from Aluminium, Steel, Acrylic, Insects, and other relics.

Yama (Tibetan Skull Camera)

Designed for the study of exodus and for the research of modern incarnations of historical iconic figures.

The latest camera is named Yama, the Tibetan God of Death. In Tibetan Buddhism, Yama will see all of life and Karma is the “judge” that keeps the balance. The skull was blessed by a Tibetan Lama for its current journey and I’m working with a Tibetan legal organization that is sending me to the refugee cities in India.

Yama’s eyes are cast from bronze and silver with a brass pinhole in each. A divider runs down the middle of the skull creating two separate cameras. A finished contact print mounted on copper is inserted in to the back of the camera to view what Yama saw in 3D.

Yama is made from Aluminium, Titanium, Copper, Brass, Bronze Steel, Silver, Gold, Mercury with 4 Sapphires, 3 Rubies (The one at Yama’s third eye was $5000.00), Asian and American Turquoise, Sand, Blood, and 9 Opals inlayed in the Skull. The film loading system is pneumatic. A 300psi air tank in the middle of the camera powers 2 pneumatic pistons to move the film holder forward and lock it into place. The switch to open and close the film chamber is located under the jaw.

Designed for two photo series. First series is of my interpretation of the modern incarnation of Southeast Asians deities. Second will take place in the Tibetan refugee cities of India, a home coming through the eyes of a 500 year old Tibetan.

Sons of Abraham (9/11) Camera

Designed to study the Passions of Abraham by capturing images of Imams, Priests, and Rabbis holding a Koran, Torah or Bible, in front of a Church, Mosque or Synagogue. Different man, different book, different building.

4”x5” camera made from a solid block 6061 T6 Aircraft Aluminium inlayed with a piece of the Bible from 1860, a piece of the Koran from1960 and a piece of the Torah from 1880. The jagged piece of metal in the front of the camera with the pinhole in it was once part of a support beam holding up the South Tower of the World Trade Center.

Wood Camera

Designed to study distance.

The Wood Camera is made from Wood, Aluminum, Copper, Steel, Acrylic, and Insects. Most of the camera parts were found in Death Valley, CA. The camera has an interchangeable front plate used to float objects in front of the pinhole. With pinhole photography the focus is infinite. Objects which are a quarter-inch in front of the pinhole are just as in focus as objects 20 miles away.

Deer Camera

Designed to study the core ritual of the hunt and man’s arrogant separation from Nature.

4”x5” camera made from Steel (3/4” plate found in the desert near Mexico), Brass (parts from an 1800’s gold scale and bullet shells), Bronze, Copper (Bullets), Aluminum, Antler and Ivory (carved hand from a 18th century Christ figure).

Wayne Martin Belger at Work.

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Nowadays many photographers and digital artists use vignettes as a way to finish their images. There are lots of ways to add a vignette to an image and here are some of them. I’ve included methods that work with Lightroom, Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. The latter process will work with most photo editing programs.

Lightroom 2

To add a vignette in Lightroom, move to the Develop module and choose the Vignette options. Set the Post Crop Amount value in a negative value to darken the edges. Set the Roundness to a low value such as -70 to get a rectangular vignette and set the Feather to around 50 so it is soft but not too soft.

Photoshop #1

A simple way to add a vignette in Photoshop is to use the Lens Correction filter. Choose Filter > Distort > Lens Correction and adjust the Vignette amount to the Left to a negative value and the Midpoint to the left to bring the vignette into the image more.

Photoshop #2

Another way to add a vignette in Photoshop is to use a Layer style. This has some benefits and one is that the method works on just about any size image and it’s simple to do once you have the Style created.

Make the background layer a regular layer by double clicking it and click Ok. Select the Add Layer Style icon at the foot of the Layer palette and choose Inner Glow. Set the Color to Black, set the blend mode to Darken or Multiply and adjust the Size so you can see the edge. You can save this as a style preset and you can then record the process of adding the style to the layer as an action so that you have a one click vignette solution.

Almost any photo-editing software

If your software supports layers and layer opacity then this method should work just fine in most photo editing programs. I’ve used Photoshop Elements and you should check your program’s help if you are unsure how to perform these tasks in your software.
Add a new layer using Layer > New > Layer and use the Rectangular Marquee to select around the inside border of this layer leaving a small margin. Choose Select > Inverse to invert your selection so the border area is selected. Now use the Paint Bucket to fill the area with black or dark brown. Choose Select > Deselect.

Choose Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and use a high radius value to blur the edge and soften it. Adjust the Layer Opacity to blend this edge into the image underneath and, if desired, set the Blend Mode to Darken or Multiply.

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1. Keep Shooting

Expect to burn through a lot of memory cards shooting wildlife. While you may occasionally be able to presage the decisive moment in a wildlife shot, more often than not it will

be difficult to know exactly when the body position, the facial expression, and the composition of the image in front of you will all come together as an animal is in motion. Continuous shooting, extra batteries and many, fast memory cards will improve your odds of getting an effective image. If I find that only one in a couple dozen of my landscape images are “good” by my own criteria, that ratio might be more like “one in a few hundred” shots for wildlife, the first time I photographed polar bears I shot two cards full of images in less than an hour, and netted three portfolio images.

2. The Eye Has It

Like human portraits, wildlife portraits gain life by making a connection between the viewer and the animal, and as with humans, the window to that connection is the eye. When the practical needs of nature photography (supertelephoto lenses, wide apertures) leave the photographer with a very narrow depth of field it is almost always essential that the eye, if nothing else, be in focus. Our brains are almost hardwired to notice faces and to look for the eyes, if the eyes aren’t sharp in the primary subject of your photograph, most times, just won’t work. Bonus tip: A tiny bit of fill light from a flash (maybe 1.5 or more stops down under the “correct” fill flash exposure) can help create effective catch light in the eye to enhance this effect.

3. Understand Your Subject

With wildlife, particularly big game, learn a bit about your subject beforehand for the safety of

the animals, for your own safety, and for better photographs. Getting too close to many animals, particularly birds, to abandon their eggs or nest entirely. Your own safety is important too, in photographing polar bears from a Zodiac in Svalbard I knew that polar bears would not usually jump out into the water to attack, and working with a telephoto they mostly seemed uninterested in my presence. However, when one animal came to the shore and started bobbing it’s head up and down, I knew it was time to be out of there in a moment, this friendly looking gesture is the polar bears way of figuring out how far we are away. Spending time learning about your subject isn’t just about safety, either. The colorful puffins I photographed in the Westfjords of Iceland, I learned through research, are a lot more docile. While there were excellent shooting opportunities even in midday, near midnight (at dusk during that trip), it was easily possible to work within arm’s length of the birds, and I wouldn’t have known that without a little study beforehand.

4. Movement, Facing and Space

Another lesson from human portraiture we can use in wildlife photography is the idea of composing based on facing and direction. In general photographs

of moving animals are best composed giving more room in front of the animal’s movement than in back. Similarly, when an animal is looking to one side or another in a photograph, providing room in the direction the animal is looking usually results in a more effective image. If you can show what the animal is looking at (particularly if that too is interesting), that can be even more effective.

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Tobi Troendle created the A.I.R reflector. Aside from having a cool name it also folds to nothing.

This is of course no problem, if you are working in the studio or transport your equipment in the trunk of your car, but I wanted a small reflector, that I can carry around in my camera bag or even the pockets of my pants, if I need to. After some heavy thinking, the “A.I.R” came to my mind, inspired by those foldable round reflectors you can get everywhere, but without the need to find that glass-fibre-something frame material and work with it. And here is how to build it:

Materials

• A bicycle tube of the desired size. Use a “Dunlop” type valve, if you want to inflate it by mouth.
• An emergency blanket or some reflective cloth (probably more stable…)
• Some tape (gaffer’s and double sided)
• Scissors
• Threat and needle, if working with cloth

Total cost: 0 – 10$, depending on what you already have at home

The building process

Inflate the tube, using the power of your lungs or a pump.

Cut out a rectangular piece of the blanket and crumple it. If you don’t do this, you will probably get strange patterns of reflected light on your subject, causes by the creases in the blanket!

Spread the blanket out and attach it to the floor/table with some tape at its corners. This will keep it flat right where you want it to be.

Carefully align the tube on the blanket and fix it with small pieces of double sided tape.

Cut the blanket to a round shape, which is big enough to allow wrapping of the exceeding material around the tube.

Wrap the blanket around the tube and glue it to itself with some tape. Gluing on the rubber probably won’t work, because the rubber will stretch and move too much.

Test drive

After deflating the tube, you can now fold the reflector down to about the size of a big hand.

To use it, just unfold, inflate it and reflect the light!

This image was taken with available window light

And this one was taken with A.I.R on the left side, reflecting with the silver side of A.I.R.

First impressions

The reflector is surprisingly stable, because the blanket works similar to the spokes on a wheel. Using a pump to inflate it, will probably give extra strength to the design, although I still would avoid heavy winds…

A rubber tube will not break like glass fibre or plastic does, so don’t worry about dropping or warping it.

You could use the “A.I.R” as a life raft for your camera, in case your plane crashes or boat sinks! (Just kidding…?)

The silver side seems to add a slight bluish tone to the reflected light, but that totally depends on the material you are using.

The shape of the tube has a nice size for easy handhold operation.

Possible improvements

Adding some slings, in order to attach it some kind of reflector holder (light stand, clamp, tree, whatever)

Using some cloth, thread and needle instead of foil and tape will definitely kick up the design to a more professional appearance and functionality.

You can design “A.I.R”s in all sizes, by using small tubes from bikes for children or huge tubes cut from old inflatable boats.

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One post that will be particularly interesting is: Preparing for the Olympics

© Vincent Laforet

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Here is another fairly easy hack that if you like it, and use it, can save you goo-gobs of money. Build your own tilt-shift lens. I know there are people out there who would love to experiment with a PC Shift lens, but the cost of purchasing one is generally prohibitive unless you plan to shoot professionally with the lens. (A nikon shift lens with tilt functions cost over $1000, BTW: The Nikon guys once took a look over this and said, “why would you do that to such a nice camera? We sell that lens you know.” I know. That’s the point). There are companies out there that sell variations of this type of hack. Lensbabies in particular I am familiar with, and they look like they have a good product. This is the same thing, works on the same principle, except perhaps in some respects it might exceed the optical quality that you can get from commercially available PC lens hacks. The reason? The image quality here is determined by your lens, the lens that I use is an old Carl Zeiss 80mm prime lens intended for medium format. *Crisp* More than that however, they are also fairly inexpensive. Take a look for Pentacon Six lenss on ebay. They don’t run very much.

A word about the lens. In this hack the key element is the lens, and you need something pretty specific for the hack to work. The lens you use must be intended for a format larger than the format you intend to use the lens on. IE: In this example i use a lens intended for 6×6 image on a 35mm camera. If I wanted to build this for medium format I would not only need a larger plunger, but a lens that was capable of at least 6×8, with 6×9 being preferable. The reason is that the lens works by playing with the fact that we can take advantage of the format differences (once again) to give us a little extra space between the camera body and then lens to add some rubbery stuff . In this case, a plunger. So, lets get to it.

What you’ll need:

1. Lens – (see above)
2. Rubber Plunger – (any type will do, as long as it’s flexible and not too large.)
3. Cardboard – (something stiff and not corrugated)
4. Plastic Body cap

I you notice I use body caps a lot in my work. They are the perfect way to attach your camera to something else, something it probably was never intended to be attached to. Anyway, pick one up.

Then, using a hobby knife, hollow out the inside part, and smoothen it down so there are no rough spots or burs.

Now take your plunger:

And cut a hole in the top where the stick is, just large enough to fit your lens.

Then go ahead and stick your lens onto the plunger to see if it fits. At this point I wouldn’t really worry about gluing your lens down. In this particular construction the rubber will profile never provide decent enough support for you to feel comfortable letting your precious lens go without holding it as well. Just make the hole tight enough so that the lens is fairly snug. I even made groves so that I could ‘screw’ the lens into place. If you’re enterprising enough, you could go out and buy the actual bayonet adaptor for whatever lens your using and then just screw it on.

Then you need to build your backing. Here I cut out a ring from the cardboard. The inner circle is the circumference and diameter of the lens cap, while the outer part matches the bottom of the plunger. I hotglued the parts together. (For expediency’s sake. If you want to really use this lens set-up often, I recommend that you a: don’t use cardboard or hotglue b: use screws for everything.)

Okay, go ahead and hotglue it together.

With your lens attached, you’re all done and ready to shoot.

This lens works pretty well, surprisingly well actually. The image quality is awesome as the lens is a Zeiss and doesn’t have any optical interference between your CCD Chip and the lens itself. You can use this lens for art photography or architectural stuff where you’re trying to adjust for lens distortion. If you want to get serious about building something like this to use for something like architecture where you’ll need to be able to hold the lens in one place for a long time, and very still, consider using this article as a guide to how you might build this using an adjustable frame that would provide you with greater control over the range of motions. If you build this with a frame, consider using bellows instead of a plunger. I chose the plunger as I was looking for something flexible yet sturdy at the same time. Here focusing is a matter of squeezing the lens down, and twirling it around. Very practical. Here’s a shot I took with this lens.

Notice how I am able to keep the eyelashes crystal sharp in the picture, yet blur her body as the image gets closer to the bottom? It’s a very effective method of controlling the viewers gaze, and keeping it locked. You can do the same thing using gradient maps and Gaussian blur in photoshop, but in my opinion it never looks as good. Besides, you can do this on film. Enjoy!

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