I’m ready to play! After years and years of chasing tack sharp images, I’m looking forward to trying something else. I am on an adventure to find out what magical things I can create with the Lensbaby lenses.
I first heard about these lenses six-eight years ago from my father-in-law, but at that time I didn’t look into them. Then last Fall I watched two of Kathleen Clemons’ CreativeLive.com classes about flower photography*, and she also mentioned how much she loved these lenses. So here I am, owning and learning my first system – the Composer Pro II with the Sweet 50 optic.What can you do with the Sweet 50 and 35 optics? By choosing an aperture between f2.5 to f22, and by tilting the lens, you can place your subject in the frame into a sweet spot of focus surrounded by blur. The wider the aperture, the more blur you’ll get.
I took the following images at the Sherman’s Library and Gardens in Corona del Mar, California. I started with a narrow aperture and I opened it more and more.

From the above images I chose the following one as my favorite, and did some Lightroom editing. You might like one with a different aperture, but to my taste this is the best one of the set (f5.6):
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At the same location I photographed this Blue Poppy Anemone too, using various apertures.

​The one I picked and edited from this set was taken at f5.6 aperture:

If you are starting out with Lensbaby lenses I would highly recommend that you try various apertures with the same subject and chose your favorite at home.* I am a mostly self-taught photo artist. One learning source that has proved itself to be invaluable for me is CreativeLive.com. If you are looking for an online learning place to improve your photography (or business, crafts, etc.) skills, I’d like to recommend that you try CreativeLive.com out. If you order your first class using this link, then you (and I) will receive $15 off of the class. Give them a shot!