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19 Apr 2024

Lens Whacking

Term: Lens Whacking
Description: Lens whacking, also known as free-lensing or detached lens technique, is a photography technique where the lens is detached from the camera body and held or tilted in front of the sensor while taking a photo or recording a video. This technique creates a unique effect where light leaks and flares can be introduced into the image, producing a dreamy and ethereal look. The name "lens whacking" comes from the motion of tapping or shaking the lens during the process to create a dynamic shift in focus or blur. While lens whacking can produce interesting and creative results, it should be performed with caution and is not recommended for use with expensive or fragile equipment.

3 Quick Tips On Lens Whacking

lens-whacking-quick-tips

Lens Whacking – also known as “free lensing” – is an interesting technique for capturing video by which you actually disconnect your lens and move it around while recording the video. It creates a very unique look and a very distinctive – almost dreamy – style to the video captured using this method.

The problem is that while it is a simple concept, in practice it takes a bit of work to become comfortable enough using it to actually get usable video out of the technique. For those of you who are interested in learning a bit more about lens whacking and how to master it ive compiled several tips and even a video demonstration for you below.

Lens Whacking Tips & Tricks

  • Use Older Manual Focus Lenses – While I would not recommend going out and getting a manual focus lens specifically for lens whacking i would say that if you have one, specifically one with an aperture ring, it would be very preferable to most newer lenses.
  • Open Your Lens to its Maximum Aperture and Set Focus to Infinity – For the best results your lens much be set at its maximum aperture (example: F/1.8), and be set to focus to infinity.
  • Hold Your Camera To Your Chest -Due to the nature of not having your lens fixed toy our camera it is very easy to ruin a good shot via unwanted movement. Securing your camera to your chest helps to stabilize your body and prevent unwanted issues in your lens whacking video.

The video below has some great tips on Lens Whacking, just set your viewer to 3:14 to skip to the Lens Whacking portion of the video.