Shutter Sisters

lensbaby love

By

Lensbaby kindly offered us at Camp Shutter Sisters a chance to play with the Lensbaby Composer Pro and one of my highlights of camp was hosting a walk down to the beach to experiment with these babies. I had been playing and learning the joys and difficulties of the Lensbaby Composer Pro before I arrived at camp, hoping to impart some knowledge or tips once we were there.

What I have discovered is that playing is the best way to approach this lens. It’s kinda like going back to basics, like when we first learnt how to use our cameras. You have to focus manually, find the “sweet spot”, maybe bend the lens to create some movement and find peace with the dreamy effect and what lands in your camera.

Some people get it right away, some get frustrated, some enjoy the challenge, some have patience to wait and discover something special and some do not. Sometimes working hard for an image makes it extra special. Thankfully many of the campers surrendered to the beauty of what was happening and some magic ensued…..

Beautiful fun moments, carefully crafted portraits, and breathtaking views of the surroundings.

Thank you Lensbaby for giving us the opportunity to play and create on camp.

We wanted to keep the Lensbaby love flowing, so please leave a comment today for a chance to win a Lensbaby Composer Pro of your very own, how exciting! You have until midnight Thursday night EST to leave a comment for your chance to win!

Congratulations to Kimberly Bowler for winning the Lensbaby and thanks to all of you for your comments!

Comments

  2. I am crazy jealous of all the fun and experimenting you guys had at camp.
    I have spent a lot of time looking through peoples flickr accounts, astounded by the creativity and friendship created at camp.

  4. I'd love to discover what lensbaby is all about!!! Wished I had all that fun at camp, but glad u all did, so wonderful 🙂

  8. I have seen what some create with their Lensbaby and I would love to get my hands on one to play! What fun that would be and what a great new challenge! Thank you for this opportunity to put my name in the hat <3

  9. Really liked the Arrival at the Beach photo – added feel of motion – you can see/feel the wind blowing. Thank you for this opportunity.

  13. Thank you for the opportunity to win one of these babies. I've been coveting them for a while now. The photos from camp are magical.

  19. Thank you, thank you for this wonderful opportunity. I would love to have a lens baby (happy early xmas to me!)

  20. Camp Shutter Sisters sounds like so much fun! It is now on my bucket list. Would love to play with Lensbaby!

  23. Oh, how I love the Lensbaby! I love what it does for portraits AND landscapes alike. I have a Lensbaby 2.0 and have been lusting after a newer model for quite some time. I would love a bit more control and smoothness when finding the sweet spot.

  24. I would love to have a lensbaby! It would sort of make up for the missed opportunity of camp. sort of. 🙂 And it would be the first lens I pack when I attend next year.

  28. I had such fun playing with the one on loan from camp. I'd love to have one to keep! Thanks Xanthe for including my shots. What a treat!

  30. I think ALL my photos involve just playing around with the camera. For me, it's my "method"-I just leave myself open to whatever comes and that's where the magic lies.

  31. Soooo wish I had been there with everyone and it would have been nice to try out a Lensbaby too:) I would love to have one!

  33. After I got my dSLR a couple of years ago, I bought the Lensbaby 2.0 to experiment and see if I wanted to go whole hog. Sometimes I loved it, sometimes I hated it. Enter my 50mm compact macro and the Lensbaby hasn't seen the light of day since. These photos are so lovely, though, my interest would be easily renewed if I won the Composer; I know it's a huge improvement over the 2.0.

  37. I just purchased the Lensbaby Scout Fisheye Lens and I have been having a blast learning to use it. I thought the Scout would be a good introduction to the Lensbaby line. I would love to expand my Lensbaby collection. Thanks for this opportunity!

  38. I would dearly love to play around with the magic that can be created with a Lensbaby.

    And I have to echo Lisa's comment that I am [kind of jealously] enjoying going through the pictures and posts from Camp Shutter Sisters. You have made a wonderful creative community of women, and I think that's amazing.

    Thank you for all that you do to inspire us.

  40. I love my lens baby! I don't have the pro though, just the first composer. I love the fisheye lens insert best. The pinhole gives me the most challenge, but I have captured some really cool moments with it too!

  42. Gorgeous photo links! I'd love to have a Lensbaby – love to capture the natural world with a lens like that. Pick me! 🙂

  44. Love the images that everyone came up with using the Lensbaby!!! I would so like to own one:) Thanks for this opportunity!

  45. I so, so want a tilt and shift lens – but this actually looks like it might do what I need!
    I love the photos you guys have taken – super-dreamy 🙂

  47. LOVED playing with the Lensbaby at camp (thanks for including one of my shots!). It was really fun and made for some really unique shots. I'd love to add it to my tool kit!

  50. I got to play with one of the Lensbabies at camp and it was such fun! Everyone go such interesting photos!

  52. OMG! OMG! I am jumping in my seat I want one so bad! I just love the effects these little babies create and I want and learn and play and create my own!

  53. I have a lensbaby muse- and am slowly gaining patience to use it 😉 I'd LOVE the Composer Pro I think it would fit my style a bit more!

  54. Oh WOW! I'm so excited! I've been wanting a lensbaby for a while but couldn't justify the purchase. I would love to win one! Thanks for the opportunity. Yipppy!

  56. Looking through the Lensbaby is like peeping through the keyhole. Behind the magic door appears different reality. Lensbaby let you catch everyday stories to discern fabulous world in them. They let you, maybe let me too.

  57. Ooh ooh ooh! Lensbaby's are so much fun! I would LOVE one as I was really just discovering them at camp and did really well with it. 🙂

  58. Oh what fun it must have been to walk with a group of like-minded ladies and play with a Lensbaby! I have seen some of the lovely shots taken with that lens and would love to try it!

  60. It was so fun to be able to experiment with the Lensbaby…I'd love to be able to keep playing!

  62. Those images are gorgeous–and it looks like everyone had a great time playing with the lenses.

  64. Oh, the lensbaby is on my WISH LIST!!!! I would love to have one! thanks for the opportunity!

  65. Oh! A Lensbaby would be so much fun to play around with & learn to use! I've been loving seeing all the photos from Camp. 🙂

  74. I get all weak in the knees looking at the Lensbaby website and making my dream list of all the things I want to buy! And, photos from from camp are just heavenly….could look at those all day!

  83. Even hearing the word Lensbaby makes me intimidated lol! But I would love to try it and create something new! thanks for the opportunity :)!

  84. I think it's great to play with a lens baby. The focal point where you want to submit and the blur around it.
    I would love to endlessly play with a lens baby.
    And making great shots.

  92. I had so much fun playing, it was so addicting! The photos I got feel like a I am in a dream world. Would love to add one to my camera bag!

  93. Love the lensbabies. I used to have one several years ago – the original version. Wished I never got rid of it!

  96. so bummed that i missed the camp out with all the sisters, maybe next year? at any rate, this is a rock'in giveaway – i have had the lensbaby on my wish list since 2008! 🙂
    xo

  97. i had so much fun with this little lens. definitely took some getting used to but i did manage to get a few nice shots! would love to have one of my own. two hours just wasn't enough! thanks to the kind folks at Lensbaby!

  98. Ahhh! I wish with all my heart that I would have been able to be there. I've been dying to get my hands on a lensbaby! Crossing my fingers 😀

  102. Wow! How much would I love to take the Lensbaby I have on my Amazon wish list OFF? Fingers and toes crossed. Loved looking at the Lensbaby pics everyone took.

  104. oh lensbaby love! i had one and ended up having to sell it – regret this all the time. would adore this addition to the old bag!

  106. I have a lensbaby muse that I would gladly trade for a composer! I have some arthritic problems with my hands that I didn't realize would impact working it properly… so I've never been that pleased with any of my shots 🙁 I'm always in awe of shots people take though… so funky 🙂

  109. synchronicity? a lensbaby crossed my mind today as i was asking my sweetie about photography — he is a photographer, i am not — although i used to love it as a kid in the old instamatic days!

  114. I would love to get my hands on that new Composer Pro! I hope to see it up close and personal at the PhotoExpo in NYC on Friday.

  116. Those photos from camp using the Lensbaby were beautiful, would love to have one of those in my bag!

  117. I would LOVE to win a fun lens like this. Learning new things in photography is the best. Thank you.

  119. I would love to own a lensbaby! I have seen so many wonderful moments captured with a lensbaby, but have not tried one out myself. Would love the opportunity play with this baby!

  120. I have wanted a Lensbaby for so long, and I don't know anyone personally who has one for me to try out. Seems like everyone I know (me included) gets wrapped up in the business of photography and the ART of it falls to the wayside. Maybe today (or I guess tomorrow, technically) will be my lucky day!

  127. I love the idea that out-of-focus is now a virtue instead of a failing! Plus the things you can do with a Lensbaby look so incredibly cool!

  128. I love the photos this lens can create. I've played around with it and you are so right about going back to basics on this lens. How fun of this company to let you play.

  129. I have been wanting one for a while, I just love the endless creative possibilities they seem to offer. What a generous offer, thank you!

  131. Would love to have a lensbaby to try something new with! Looks like it could be real interesting…

  140. FUN FUN FUN! I've played with the babies and I'm pondering a purchase. Who doesn't love new photography toys?!

  143. Wow- I have been oogling over the lensbaby for quite a while now. It would be a dream to call one my own- thanks for the chance!

  147. In the middle of a photography course right now and would sell my granny (maybe) for a Lensbaby! Pick me, pick me!! 🙂

  152. That was really nice of the folks at Lensbaby. I bet you guys had a ball playfully creating photographs while using it. How cool is that? Pretty cool I'd say. Thanks for sharing the Lensbaby love with all of us here. 🙂

  153. Can only imagine how much fun and inspiring camp must have been! I'm hoping that I've been good enough this year that Santa might leave a Lensbaby under the tree =)

  157. I looove lensbaby images!!! Please..That lensbaby must be in Argentina!! ( Lol) I want it I want it….Thanks for this opportunity!

  159. Curious, I had to check this out and see exactly what one of these could do, so I checked out the Lensbaby site — all I can say is I want to be able to do that. This works on cityscapes to portraits to florals, and lots more. Very cool!

  160. super cool… I would love to have a go at a lensbaby, have played with one before and envious of my friends who have them.

  162. i would love to try out a lensbaby!! i've had that site bookmarked for awhile, but alas, out of the budget for now

  163. While attending the MOAB Photo Symposeum last May, I had an opportunity to use a LensBaby at the volkswagon museum (junkyard). I am totally hooked with this incredibly creative piece of equipment. I have my fingers crossed!

  165. I am the perpetual student and sometimes the teacher. It would be a dream to have an opportunity to discover a new tool and then share what I could do with it! Thanks for this opportunity, Kim.

  166. I've been wondering how well the lensbaby composer would work. and what exactly the learning curve on it would be. Ilove things that force me back to the basics of photography cause I often end up with some of my favorite photos from it.

  169. I really love the sense of play and experimentation that comes through in all of these.
    I'd absolutely love to try one out for myself!

  170. Awesome creativity! Lensbaby opens a new world to photographers to expand their inner creativity! It's been on my wish list for quite some time!

  173. I have to admit that I have been afraid to try the lensbaby, but I think I just need a little nudge . . . like you put in this post. Thanks for the chance to win one!

  174. That lensbaby looks like so much fun! I've been wanting to try one out- thanks for the chance to win one! Someone is going to be very happy!

  177. Oh I LOVE the Lensbaby line! I have the Scout and am SO excited to be bringing the Fisheye and the Double Glass Optic with me on an African safari trip next week! Such awesome, compact products made so affordable! LOVE Lensbaby!

  180. I love Lensbabys!! Have always wanted one, just can't afford them as a poor college kid majoring in photography…Would totally be blessed to have one!

  181. I love the photos I have seen taken with the lens baby and would love the opportunity to have one – I need a new toy to play with during my recovery

  197. Oh, how I would love to win a Lensbaby! I have been on the Lensbaby website too many times to admit over the last two weeks. I have been drooling over it and all of the camp shots on flickr, and I would just love to have one myself. Please (pretty please, with sugar on top) pick me.

  200. I am an amateur in everyway but would love to have a Lensbaby. Each picture I see taken with one is so unique it's like exploring a new world. Thanks for the opportunity and good luck to all!

  201. Wish I could have been at the retreat…hopefully next year there will be another. Would love to win this lensbaby.

  203. I would love to win one of these, love the photos I've seen here and on lensbaby's web site, I 've been looking at them for a long time. Thanks for the opportunity to win one!!!!

  204. Ugh, lens babies are my favorite ever! I've been dying for a composer pro. It would be like an early Christmas present to myself! I dream of doing an entire senior session with one 🙂

  211. Anything that brings us back to the basics is worth a LOT! I have been hearing a lot of testimonials but would LOVE to get to play with my very own!

  212. Great pix and a great lens option. Used a composer that a friend owns and have been bitten by the Lensbaby bug. Just waiting for 'Santa' to doe his thing hopefully!!! Thanks for the opportunity to get one sooner!!

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  226. thanks for the review ~ I have curious about these little babies. waiting for my local shop to rent them so I can give it a test drive. they sound like great fun to use and play around with.

  227. I just started the 365 project and kep coming across very nice photos taken with a lensbaby. I would love to win one. Thank you Shutter Sister for such an exciting giveaway.

  229. New technology is amazing, isn't it! Would love the opportunity to play with one of these. Don't want to become that "grandmother who can't even work the dvr"! Thanks for the chance!

  230. Ok, so I went and looked at the Lensbaby Composer at a photo store again today, and really, it is just incredible. It creates such interesting and dreamy images. I could have played with it in the store for hours.

    Please pick me!

  235. I love that y'all are doing this and I would love love love a Lensbaby! So cool! Here's to wishing!

  236. I made some silly decision a while back that I didn't need a Lensbaby but then I kept seeing these great photographs made by all you amazing Sister artists and now, I don't know how I've lived without one. Playing is my most favorite way to photograph. I just have to remind myself daily, as I get caught up in the technical details, to PLAY.

    A Lensbaby would be a wonderful way to keep playing. Thank you for this opportunity.

  238. The lensbaby system would probably be excellent for children's portraiture, and I've heard that the Sweet 35 is also nice.
    Would love to have one for my Nikon!
    Jet

  239. Fantastic! Love this blog and your images…. thank you for the inspiration! Always wanted to give LensBaby a try 🙂

  245. Can't wait to see who wins it!! I've drolled over Lensbabys for a while now…never could afford one :/ *sitin' and waitin' and wishin'*

  246. how exciting to get the chance to play around with the lensbaby! i have been wanting to do so for a while but haven't got around to it yet. love the effects that the different lenses give.

  247. I have wanted one of these for as long as I can remember. May it lands in the hands of someone for whom it will bring much joy.

  249. I am totally in love with yalls photos and the photo's made by Lensbabys–they're just gorgeous!! I would be so blessed to have on of my own.

  254. Beautiful shots! Would love to add this to my bag… think it may have to be added to my Birthday wish list!

  259. Not sure if your contest is over or if it runs through next Thurs?? Either way, the Lensbaby sounds like lots of fun. I'd love the opportunity to try one out. Love those beautiful shots!!

  260. I've had my Lensbaby Composer for over a year and recently received the Scout for my birthday. Love Love Love it. 🙂 Great photos from your photo walk!

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  265. Hello…..I'd love to discover what lensbaby is all about!!! Wished I had all that fun at camp, but glad u all did, so wonderful.I have seen what some create with their Lensbaby and I would love to get my hands on one to play! What fun that would be and what a great new challenge. had so much fun with this little lens. definitely took some getting used to but i did manage to get a few nice shots! would love to have one of my own. two hours just wasn't enough! thanks to the kind folks at Lensbaby. had so much fun with this little lens. definitely took some getting used to but i did manage to get a few nice shots! would love to have one of my own. two hours just wasn't enough! thanks to the kind folks at Lensbaby.thanks