Tips for Lens Ball Photography

As creative photographers, we are always looking for new ways to incorporate objects to enhance our photos and feeds. A creative object that has been heavily incorporated into photos is the glass lens ball. Lens ball photography consists of using a clear glass lens ball as a subject in an image. The glass ball creates a distorted effect and makes for a very creative photo. With lens ball photography, you can use a 60mm or 80mm glass ball to infract light from the lens ball to capture a cool image. Here’s a guide to using the lens ball to create some stunning images!

Camera Settings

The lens ball is easy to use. But, having the right camera settings are important to achieve the perfect image. It’s recommended to keep your shutter speed high and lower your aperture. This will keep the glass ball in focus and the image within the glass ball in focus, while causing the background to be blurred out. Also having a higher shutter speed eliminates any motion blurriness that might be caused because of shaking if you’re holding the ball in your hand.

Hand Holding Lens Ball This is as classic and as simple as it gets. Lift up the glass ball with your hand or you can get someone else to do it for you. Set a manual focus on the glass ball and adjust your camera distance from the lens ball to get the right shot. Think of the glass ball as a second lens and make sure you capture everything that you want in the lens ball. It essentially acts as a wide angle lens.

Glass Ball Photography from Below

You can take a shot using your Sigma lens from Beachcamera.com from below the glass ball to get a cool wide angle shot upwards. The lens ball should capture most of the architecture or landscape since it’s so wide. Circular structures also look very cool with the glass ball because of the way that it distorts the image.

Portrait Shots

What about using models for your glass ball photos? You can capture the image of someone through the lens ball and it would make for a very creative shot. Adjust the distance of the glass ball away from the model’s face and adjust your focus accordingly. Remember, you want to frame the subject within the glass ball first before moving onto framing the shot through your camera.

Using a glass ball in your photoshoots can add a new creative element that can really make your photos stand out. It can turn a simple concept into a unique never seen before image.