Freelensing...a small adventure for the photographer brave at heart

So about a year ago (maybe more) I bought a Lensbaby Composser kit...with the "fisheye insert lens", the "creative kit" and a quite a few other little addon features.
After having fun for a few weeks and loads of experimenting with all of the different effects that could be gained from my new lenbaby system... I noticed something... I love being creative and experimenting, it's the main reason I enjoy photography...but I found that the cost of the lenbaby and extra nic-nacks had almost ruined my enjoyment. I kept having buyers remorse... and a couple weeks later I saw a post on a blog that made my buyers remorse go into over drive!

FREELENSING! It's like having a lensbaby system without buying one!!!
I figured... "Really, I gotta try this!" and I did and was I amazed! Using a 50mm manual focus lens I was able to hover and twist the lens in front of the camera body to create some of the most crazy and eye opening effects! It was a lensbaby with a build in aperture iris...(which lenbaby would later add to a 35mm f2.8 lens insert for a price).

I began playing with letting light in through the gap between the lens and camera body, to create streams of light halos and streaks... The added effect of using a wide open f1.7 created all sorts of fantastic bokeh to add to the dream like haze of the out of focus section of the photos. The "sweet spots" the name given to the section of the photo that is sharp and in focus, were just a little harder to achieve but were even more rewarding, after all you had to fight a bit more to capture your photo your way!

When it comes down to it, the lensbaby system is a great system to use and own.. don't get me wrong, you can have loads of fun using all the many different tools that go with the lensbaby... But just being able to un-clip your standard 50mm lens mid shoot, to add a bit of spice to your shots..that my friends is quick and easy fun!

I still use my lensbaby...I still freelensing...but now I have double the creative options!!!
If you don't owe a lensbaby and don't plan on buying one, but want to try your hand at all the sweet spot and blurry action.. Give Freelensing a try!!

Resources:

Everything you'll need to know:
http://content.photojojo.com/tutorials/tilt-shift-and-macro-freelensing/

P.S
Warning: Freelensing can damage your camera in a few ways please read the info and warnings from the link above.