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Astronomical Lensball, David Rutter
ASTRONOMICAL LENSBALL
DAVID RUTTER ARPS
So following in the footsteps of many other subject nomadic photographers before me I was seduced by those magical images of golden sunsets shot through a Lensball to such a level of photographic envy that I made my purchase of a pair of slightly cheaper – as you do - Amazon versions and waited patiently for delivery. They arrived in perfect condition and I could not wait to get out to create my own unique brand of dreamy seascapes.
However a bout of slightly chill weather (it doesn’t take much to keep me indoors) mixed with the continuing threat of COVID-19 also mixed with a realisation that we live nowhere near
a beach had me heading for a bout of experimentation in our home studio. Having recently been turned on to using a torch coupled with long exposure to create that lovely old fashioned feel for still life images along with having recently experimented with water diffraction I had a plan immediately in mind.
So the images you see before you are my “knock-off” Lensballs exposed for a few seconds at anything from F8 to F18 as I waved my 8 bulb LED torch around like a fly on hallucinogenics. I soon found out that two points were important for the best images; 1) keeping the lights within the frame which means guessing where the edge of the frame is in mid-air when shooting, and 2) making very smooth movements of the torch to give a “rings of Jupiter” feel. So the failure rate was significant but when it all came together I was super happy with my astronomical Lensball exercise and as for those elusive golden upside down beach scenes – well they will just have to wait their turn.
