First Look at the Lensbaby Twist 60

I was super excited to hear a few weeks back that Lensbaby had a new lens in the works and even more excited when I heard it was going to be a lens with the swirly bokeh effect.

The new Lensbaby Twist 60

In the past this swirly visual effect had been the money-train for Lomo and their Petzval lenses in the form of the 85mm and the soon to be publicly available 58mm. I own a lot of the Lensbaby lenses and I've been very pleased with the resulting optical effects from their previous products so I was certainly pleased to hear Lensbaby were taking a crack at the swirly bokeh effect now too. This time around lensbaby introduces the same Petzval optics but in a modern lens, and the reason I say modern lens is because the Lomo Petzval lenses were always 'remakes' of the old classics. Don't get me wrong they were gorgeous looking lenses and very well made but they also had all of the trappings of the original classic lenses. They weighed a ton with awkward focus controls and they had drop-in drop-out aperture plates to change the aperture. So as gorgeous and fun as they were, they were always a trade-off over practicality.

Cue the Lensbaby Twist 60. First impressions of the Lensbaby Twist 60 is lightweight, well made and simple to use. That may seem an obvious statement but I will come onto why that's of particular relevance later on. The lens is matt black metal with an inner gold metal collar section that holds the optics. You don't need to be a genius to figure out that the inner gold section is referencing the famous brass colouring of the Petzval lenses of old. The first thing I notice is how lightweight it is and at under 200grams this is definitely not going to be a burden in your camera bag. It has a focal length of 60mm which is a really great portrait length in my opinion (50mm vs 85mm: Which is the Best Focal Length for Portraiture?) with minimal perspective distortion. Granted it's not going to be your go-to focal length for those corporate headshots but 60mm gives you a huge range in terms of singles shots and group shots over the longer lenses. It has an f stop range of f2.5 - f22 and those apertures are adjusted via the gold metal collar in the centre. One thing to note on this is that the apertures are changed via this gold collar but this is also how the lens focuses in and out. So for example when youre focused on objects far away that gold collar disappears into that black lens housing making it tricky to change the apertures. Not a big deal really and although you can still physically change the aperture you just can't see the numbers you're changing them to.

Lensbaby Twist 60 - Nikon Mount

The Twist 60 focused at minimum distance

Twist 60 focused at maximum distance

Twist 60 on my Nikon d600

This like all other Lensbaby lenses is a manual focus lens so remember this isn't 'talking' to your camera directly so you can't adjust the apertures etc via the camera body itself. Anybody who has already purchased a Lensbaby or any other art lens in the past will be familiar with this anyway. The focusing ring is grippy and firm so you'll not be nudging it about all the time plus its not a huge thread so from maximum focus to minimum focus its only a quarter turn on the focusing ring so you have plenty of accurate control. That's pretty much all you really need to know for now, I'll post the manufacturing stats a the bottom if you're interested but for now lets take a look at some photos through it.

I just want to state that I don't pretend that this is a full review at all. I've only used this lens on one shoot so far and that was at the end of another shoot I was doing. I Just wanted to get some shots with it to see what it was like and get some first impression. I will obviously need to use it a lot more to get a firmer idea.

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First shot taken with the new Lensbaby Twist 60. F2.8. Click on the image to enlarge it.

So first impressions are that it does exactly what it's designed to do. Its adding a huge amount of swirl (twist) to the background here. But what was the background and did it already have that swirl in there somewhere? No it definitely didn't in fact this is just a simple one light shot against a silver window blind, hardly anything overly exotic but to prove my point I also took the same exact shot with a standard 50mm lens to show you.

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Image taken on standard 50mm Nikon prime lens. Image also taken at f2.8. Click on the image to enlarge it.

You can see in the image here how the effect is markedly different to when you're using the Twist 60 and not using it. So what do you need to do to get the effect working at its best? Well not much really, I literally just attached the lens and focused the shot and I was done there's no secret to getting it to work as the effect is all created in the optics. It's not like some of the other Lensbaby lenses that needs a bit of practice or skill to use like the Edge or the Composer Pro, the Twist does it all internally.

So what's the limitations of the lenses effects then? Thats a simple one to explain, but you have to think about this lens doing two separate things. Firstly its focusing on your subject and keeping them nice and sharp like any lens does, secondly its partitioning the outer edges of the lens to do the 'twisting'. Those two roles are fixed in the lens and you can't change them, what I mean by that is that you can't make the outer edges of the lens tack-sharp and you can't get objects in the centre of the lens to start twisting. As soon as you understand that you can stop fighting it and shoot accordingly. For example your subject is always going to be best placed in the middle of the shot and because of this the landscape format crop is going to lend itself to this composition.

For those that are interested, this was the simple one light setup. A ring flash and model against silver backdrop

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A portrait version of the same shot. The eyes here are a little higher up than centre so they are starting to feel the effect of the 'twist' leaving them a little blurred but not drastically so. Click on the image to enlarge it.

The Elephant in the room

So lets not put this off any longer, I know the first thing I wanted to know and I'm sure the question you've been wondering is 'How does the Twist 60 compare to the Petzval 58?' Yes I know Petzval has an 85mm lens as well but it's a different focal length to the Twist 60 so I'll be comparing it to the Petzval 58 plus I have the 58 so I am able to directly compare the two. Fortunately I was able to take shots using the Petzval 58 alongside the Twist 60 at exactly the same time so lets take a look at the results. The images below show the different shots and the image descriptions appear at the bottom of each of them.

Portrait orientation of Twist 60

Landscape Orientation Twist 60

Petzval 58 - Bokeh Control Level 5

Petzval 58 Bokeh Control Level 7

Petzval Bokeh Control Level 1

Nikon 50mm

From the resulting images I'll let you draw your own conclusions of what you prefer or don't prefer. To those that don't know the Petzval 58 has the option to manually dial in a varying amount of bokeh/swirl and you can see the varying amounts on the shots above. To find out more I did a full review here where you can see more examples of the Petzval bokeh control feature Petzval 58 Bokeh Control Lens Review - March 2016

In my opinion though I really like the clean look to the swirl effect on the Twist 60 over the Petzval 58, at any bokeh control value. This is probably because its a modern lens though, its taken the swirling aspect of the older Petzval lenses and applied it to a modern chassis if you will but as a result its a little more defined. There's no right or wrong here but I do think the Twist 60 might be more practical for me day-to-day whereas the Petzval does have that more vintage traditional look but you'd expect that as its a remake of a vintage lens.

Ok so the Twist 60 creates a great effect and its comparable to the Petzval, I own a Petzval 58 and I love the shots it takes but I also have an issue with the practicality of this vintage style lens in a commercial setting. I think the Petzval 58 could take some truly stunning wedding shots for example but would I recommend lugging around a lens equivalent to the weight of a bag of sugar and a wallet full of loose aperture plates to faff about with whilst the bride patiently waits? No, of course not. The Petzval has its place and that's perhaps not in a high pressure setting, it's a vintage experience and as such you'll definitely get those unique vintage style shots. The Twist 60 however creates lovely swirly looking shots and it's in a modern, easy to use housing that weights practically nothing. I know which lens I'll be throwing in my camera bag the next time I have a commercial shoot and I want to quickly grab a few 'art shots'.

The Twist 60 comes out here in the UK on May 5th 2016. The Petzval 58 has a planned shipping date of May 2016 (they are still fulfilling kick-starter backer orders until then) so both of these lenses are coming out in the same month. The current price of the Twist 60 is £249/$279 and the current price for the Petzval 58 is £549/$749. It's also worth mentioning that for the current Lensbaby owners of the 'optic-swap-system' the Composer Pro, Edge lenses etc can actually swop out your other optic and insert this new Twist 60 optic inside instead. The price of an Twist 60 insert is £159/$179!

*I also have a discount code for you guys where you can get a further 10% off of these Lensbaby prices at WEX JAKEHICKS10 meaning you can get the Twist 60 for as little as £143

Now I don't mean to start riding around on the elephant in the room wearing a clown suit and sining the Hokey Cokey here but I think this Mays lens purchase might have just gotten a LOT more economically viable.

Additional Info and Links

The new Twist 60 comes in (the following links take you to WEX UK) Nikon, Canon and Sony mounts. The Sony mount is actually a completely redesigned lens, not just a different mount screwed on the bottom. Plus you can always simply get the Optic on its own.

Remember that if you're buying any Lensbaby lens from WEX you get an additional 10% off with my discount code JAKEHICKS10 simply enter it in the 'Any Vouchers' box at checkout.

US Links at B&H Nikon, Canon and Sony. Twist 60 Optic

The Nikon Twist 60 Specs

• Focal length - wide (mm)60
• Max aperture - wide2.5
• Max aperture - tele22
• Minimum aperture22
• Minimum focus distance (m)0.45
• Lens elements4
• Lens groups3
• Aperture blades12
• Filter thread (mm)46
• Size6.35 x 6.35 x 5.7 cm
• Weight (g)198.45

Again my apologies for not having more shots for you guys but I wanted to get this 'quick look' out there as soon as possible and I am certainly looking forward to using the Twist 60 on some more upcoming shoots real soon which I will obviously share as and when I do. So what do you guys think? Will you be getting a Twist 60 in May? Feel free to let me now your thoughts and if you have any questions about the lens feel free to fire away and I'll do my best to answer them :)

You may also be interested in my past art lens reviews, the Lensbaby Velvet 56 and also my Petzval 58 lens review.

Also if you're interested in learning more about my work then why not check out some of my workshops. I run workshops on Gelled Lighting and also my entire Post Production Workflow

Finding the People Who've Stolen Your Photographs

It would seem that night clubs are the worst offenders for image theft. They use your shot for a club night and then move onto the next. It's a very high turnover of shots as they have several club nights every week.

The digital age has brought us as photographers many benefits, unfortunately is has also brought us a few headaches as well, not least of which is the constant issue of copyright infringement.

Nearly all of us upload our photographs to the world wide web to reach a larger audience, to not do so now is damn near commercial suicide. But uploading all of our latest and greatest works puts us at the mercy of the nefarious types who believe the internet is the wild west. You take what you want, when you want it. It's on the internet so it must be free right? The polite and more diplomatic term for this theft is 'copyright infringement' but essentially it is stealing and it's where other people and companies actually profit from your hard work for free. But how do we find these people? How do we stop them from doing it and how do we get compensated for what they've profited from?

Last week a very kind member of my community got in touch to say that they had seen my work being used by a nightclub and asked if I was aware of it or was the night club using my work without consent. They were right, the nightclub had/was using my work without consent. Just a side note here but I have never worked with nightclubs on creating imagery for them and I do not know of any other photographer ever working for for a nightclub for money either. In my experience nightclubs are the biggest offenders of copyright infringement, they use a shot for a club night that has a specific date in the near future and after that club night has passed they don't need that image anymore and move onto the next one. It's a very quick turnover of images and it makes it very tricky to catch them out. The opposite of this infringement is on a more permanent basis, for example if somebody has used a photograph on a book cover, that has an indefinite lifespan. That book cover image will be used for years not weeks and is far easier to catch and to demand compensation from the infringers.

So how do we find these common thieves? Franky I take a fairly pathetic stance on this copyright infringement as a whole, I'll be honest and say that up until now I've never bothered looking for people who've stolen my shots. My argument has been 'time taken to find image thieves to bill vs. time spent creating new images that will make me money'. I've always just written copyright infringement off as the cost of doing business in the digital age and that my time is better spent creating new content not chasing around after my old work. That may well have been true up until now but thankfully there's now more and more technology on our side to do the work for us. Essentially we now get the best of both worlds, I can spend my time taking new pictures whilst technology hunts down my old pictures and fines the people using them.

Say hello to a little company called Pixsy. www.pixsy.com

Pixsy is an online service that you direct to all of your images on the web and then it searches everywhere else on the web to see where those shots are being used without you knowledge and consent.

Upon launch I directed it to my Flickr, Instagram, Tumblr, 500px and my website. But it does also give you a few other options too including Photoshelter and SmugMug for example.

It's probably not a bad idea to also use the 'Add another website' button feature too. The more places you know of that are hosting your images legitimately the less amount of work you're going to have to do in crossing off matches you were already aware of. For example if you have shots on your Model Mayhem, BeHance, PurplePort, all these places are going to pop up in the 'matches' so best to rule them out now.

 In about 30 seconds it had scanned through my 1441 shots and spat back out 4801 matches over 193 pages. I had a lot of work to do.

Literally my first page of searches found a book cover using my shot.

Ok so Pixsy finds all of these matches elsewhere on the web, now what? Well essentially you now have to go through these matches and spot which ones are legit re-posts of your shot or unauthorised ones. for example your images may appear in a news article or blog posts about you or you've personally uploaded those shots to another online service like Model Mayhem for example. Those matches are legit, you know about them or they're legally allowed to be there. The other matches are the ones you have to keep an eye out for. This is actually a lot easier than you think as you simply go to the 'Matches' tab at the top of the site and then scroll down the thumbnails until you spot something you don't recognise. In fact on my very first page I had nice little book cover I wasn't even aware of! Just another 192 pages to go!

All of these images are legit but the search functionality of Pixsy is pretty impressive. It can dig out your image from some fairly complex surrounding shots. All the images on the left-hand side of each of these 5 pairs is the image I gave to Pixsy. The images on the right-hand side of the pairs is the shots Pixsy found elsewhere on the web. 1. A magazine cover with text from a shot with no text. 2. A thumbnail of a shot surrounded by other thumbnails. 3. A heavily cropped magazine cover with a ton of surrounding text. A phone pic of a shot on funny angle with a different tone surrounded by other shots and text. 5. A clean image found from a double page spread in a different crop and surrounded by text.

So you've found the 'infringer' now what? Once you've spotted somebody using your shot in a context you're not familiar with you can follow the link provided by Pixsy to go see what page it's appearing on. If after you follow the link and you're still convinced that this is an unauthorised use of your shot and you should be compensated for it you simply go back to the Pixsy page and hit the '$ Submit Case' button.

From there, and I quote from their page 'Once you submit a case to us, our licensing team will thoroughly document the unauthorized use. Depending on the severity of the matter and the type of use, we will either contact the image user on your behalf and request a license fee payment or forward the matter to one of our attorneys.'

If they find that the case is worth tackling they'll pretty much take it from there. If you win they take 50% of the fee. That may seem like a lot but you aren't wasting any time or stressing over it, they're doing all of that and they're far better qualified to do so.

Once you've found a shot of yours that you think is being used for nefarious reasons (to be fair I don't even know what this guy is using my shot for to sell. I think its a book. Maybe.) then you can hit the 'Submit Case' button on the right hand side and Pixsy will look into whether there's a win to be had.

It seems like 'no-brainer' to me as I don't waste any of my time chasing the image parasites around the internet and I get some money in the end if they come through. I only signed up last week and I haven't had any results back as of yet but looking around the web I've found some photographers that I respect and trust to have had a few wins through Pixsy and who speak very highly of them.

So should I sell my gear and sit back and wait for the money to roll in from the infringement cases? No definitely not. I've certainly found a few of the vermin online who are happy to use my work for free but I won't be holding my breath on getting any money from them just yet. Night clubs and online book covers aren't going to get you much if anything at all but the infringers you're looking for are the big companies who still make mistakes time and time and time again. Next clothing and Top Shop have both been caught for just grabbing shots off the web and printing them on T-shirts, they were fined an 'undisclosed' amount but it's safe to say that was hefty sum. It's these cases that are worth keeping an eye out for but apart from the money side of things there's also another reason to check your images aren't being used for the wrong reasons.

A got a lot of hits for my images under the name 'JHicksStudios'. It turns out I had a copycat using my images and name to set up shoots with models on Model Mayhem. 

Whilst using Pixsy I came across around 20 re-uses of my image on Model Mayhem. Upon closer inspection I actually found that somebody had set up an account under the name 'JHicksStudios' and was posing as me online with my images in their port. Now using my images is obviously bad enough but if this guy was setting up shoots with models under my name with work that wasn't his I don't think its a stretch to say that he didn't have the best intentions towards the people involved. As a photographer who works very closely with my team I can think of nothing more damaging to my company and my brand than somebody else pretending to be me and destroying my reputation. It's bad enough that a copycat is running around producing sub-par work under my name but my industry reputation is far more important to me than a few hundred quid for a stolen book cover.

So Pixsy may find some people stealing your images and maybe even get you some money for it. At the very least you can simply keep an eye out for the big name companies who might slip up and get yourself a nice little payout but for me the biggest piece of mind is that I can keep an eye out for the 'JHicks Studios' out there and crush them before they do any real damage. Regarding that I got in touch with Model Mayhem and his account has now been deactivated.

Check out Pixsy for yourself, at present they're inundated with applicants so it took me about 24 hours after applying before I received an activation 'invite' code. All they needed was an email address and they don't take any money from you unless they win one of your cases. It's definitely worth a look and I'll keep you posted if I actually win any cases but please comment below if you've used this service or a different one to win any copyright infringement cases. For that matter just feel free to share your strangest infringement story. Whilst researching this article I actually found a guy whose shot had been used by ISIS for an 'ad campaign/propaganda'. Apparently Pixsy wasn't confident on winning that particular case but they did state 'we sent a number of take down requests for him (Brian McCarty the Photographer) and the picture was removed from the internet. We haven't received any threats yet, so that's good'. Fair play to Pixsy.

Thanks for reading guys, you may also like my articles on 'Adding Copyright Metadata in Lightroom' or 'The Reality of Actually Getting Published by Humans'

Alternatively if you'd like to learn more about how I setup my photographs, the finer details of implementing gelled lighting like I do or how I retouch my photos, why not come along to one of my workshops. http://jakehicksphotography.com/training/

Quickly Remove Dust and Hairs from Clothing in Photoshop

There are always going to be times no matter how much care is taken by the stylist when you're going to have your models clothes littered in fluff, dust and hairs.

It may not seem like much and maybe you overlook this as something that can't really be fixed because the time it takes to do so doesn't appear to out way the finished look. Basically you just assume that nobody will notice. It's a fair assessment but as with nearly all post-pro techniques, they seem minor on their own but when they're all combined in a single image they have a significant effect.

The other problem with not removing stray hairs and fluff like this is that most of us (and those that aren't doing this need to question why they aren't) will sharpen our image as one of the very final stages of our post-pro workflow. When we are first working on tidying up blemishes and stray hairs early on in the process we may think that the dust and fluff on the clothing isn't that noticeable but when we sharpen our image later on those little white specks of dust will brighten up like glitter giving the shot a visually 'noisy' effect. This is never a desirable look.

So removing the stray dust and fluff really needs to be done and although on first impressions this can look like a real pain because it's so time-consuming there is a super quick and easy technique that is a great way to eradicate it all under two minutes.

The circled area here highlights a common problem when photographing dark coloured clothing; the omnipresent dust, fluff and hairs that plague the finer details of our fashion and portrait shots.

First you want to Merge all layers into a new layer on top CMD+ALT+SHIFT+E (essentially you want to create a duplicate layer of everything below)

Rename this layer DeFluff

Then go to Filter -> Noise -> Dust & Scratches…

In this next window we want to choose to remove the fluff and dust on the clothing but not remove the texture of the clothing its on.

Remember that the Dust and Scratches filter will require different input values based on the pixel size of the image. Unfortunately it won't be the same for every shot.

A good place to start is Radius 1 Pixel and Threshold 0 Levels

This will be the lowest setting you can have and you shouldn't see any real noticeable effect taking place on the image.

Gradually increase the Radius until you see the dust disappear.

Now increase the Threshold until you see the clothing texture start to reappear.

Hit OK

The Dust and Scratches filter is pixel-fed meaning that the inputs are tied to the pixel dimensions of your file.

As a very rough guide though the Radius is usually around 3-6 pixels and the threshold is usually around 5-10 levels.

At this stage you may well have noticed that the rest of the image is really blurry too. This is because we've globally applied effect, we now need to mask back in our details but leave the clothing de-fluffed.

Your DeFluff layer should be above your original layer so you can locally mask the effect back in.

Add a layer mask to this layer Layer -> Layer Mask -> Hide All (you should now see that the blurred image is completely hidden)

Select the Brush tool (B) (a soft edged brush is the way to go here)

Hit D to default the palettes (when you have the mask selected defaulting the palettes will select pure white automatically)

Start to paint with white back onto the image where the clothes are to reveal the dust and fluff free outfit below. Make sure to paint onto the mask with 100% opacity selected. If you make a mistake you can always fix it by selecting pure black and paining back onto the mask again to hide it. It's worth remembering that the Dust and Scratches filter doesn't do a great job of avoiding corners and angles in a shot so take care not to reveal them when painting white onto the mask.

Once you've done this a few times you'll be able to remove dust, hair and fluff from your shots in no time at all.

That is pretty much it and once you're happy with this and you've done it a few times and are used to how the Dust and Scratches filter reacts in different situations you'll be able to utilise this technique no time at all. In fact you'll honestly be amazed as to how the filter can remove all traces of dust and still maintain perfect clothing texture.

Let me know your thoughts in the comment below and if you have anything to add or if you do anything different then I'd love to hear it.

Also don't forget that I run face-to-face full day workshops detailing absolutely everything I do in my Post Production workflows including Lightroom and Photoshop techniques. If you'd like to know more and check availability then please follow the link provided Jake Hicks Photography Complete Post-Pro Workflow

Petzval 58 Bokeh Control Lens Review - March 2016

Single light portrait taken at f2 - Bokeh control 4

For those of us that have been shooting for a while it's pretty easy to argue the importance of lenses even to the point that they are the most important part in the photographic system.

I've had lenses that have outlived 3 or 4 camera bodies and they continue to produce results that signify my personal stye far more than flash heads or cameras. Those tools pride themselves on being devoid of individual looks and effects but lenses on the other hand sing their quirks, personalities and arguable flaws from the roof-tops. That's why when we find a lens we love we never let it go because it defines our work far more than we would like to admit.

So now that I've outlined my opinion on the importance of finding the right lens for you I have also stated that all lenses were not designed to be equal and as such certain aspects in one lens that some photographers worship other photographers will also hold with little importance. It's a personal preference and not simply a binary decision of good and bad, otherwise we'd all own the same lens and the world of photography would be a far duller place to be.

You may have noticed that this isn't the traditional route a lens review usually takes and that's because I've never done one before and the reason for that is for the statements I've already preached up until this point. Lenses are an incredibly personal choice, a lens review of diffraction indexes, anamorphic graphs and chromatic fringe outlines are purely focused on the perceived flaws in the lens and the fewer of these 'flaws' in a lens review usually interprets into the lenses being rated as 'better'. I for one have little time for that philosophy and graph disciples and spreadsheet zealots tend to make awful photographers. I've shot ad campaigns and album covers and fashion editorials on kit lenses, cheap third party lenses and 60 year old lenses, not to prove a point or because I didn't care but because they produced great images via a look and style that no lens review can quantify.

I promise I'll get down from my soap-box now but to sum up; a lens is a very personal decision, some will hate the shots a certain lens takes and some will love them and my review just like anybody else's will not answer that for you, you simply have to try the lens out for yourselves to really grasp whether it will be a permanent fixture in your camera bag or not. With all that being said though, here's my 'hands-on' findings, take a look and if it peeks your interest I recommend you try one out yourself as soon as you can.

Single light portrait taken at f2 - Bokeh control 7

I will preface the following 'review' by stating that as much as I'd love to be, I am not sponsored or supported in any way by Petzval. I purchased this lens like every other person so the following opinions are my own.

About a year ago in the summer of 2015 I decided to join the Kickstarter phenomena and back the new Petzval 58 Bokeh control lens. In March of 2016 I finally received my lens and eagerly set up a test shoot to try out the new addition to my lens family.

'So what is this Petzval lens? I've never heard of this lens company before.'

Joseph Petzval made his first lens in Vienna, Austria in 1840 and it quickly became famous simply because it was the fastest lens ever made at the time with a staggering aperture of f3.6. This breakthrough brought down painfully long shutter speeds and portrait photography flourished from there. The new Petzval 58 lens is based on his designs and specifically the bokeh that his signature lenses produced.

Fast forward 176 years and we have the crowd-funded bokeh control version of a 58mm prime lens based on those original designs.

Here's what I got as part of my Kickstarter pack. Bear in mind that if you order this lens now that you wont get all of this but to be fair all you really need is the lens anyway the rest is just a nice bonus but certainly not fundamental in the results achieved.

The box-opening :D

The lens box

Everything included as part of the Kickstarter package

You get a lovely softcover book too

The book shows all the test images taken prior to release...

as well as the build process

A leather lens pouch that anybody who's spent this much on a lens would never use….ever

An ND x4 filter for the lens. Quarters the amount of light entering the lens (2 stops)

Bokeh changing inserts. I assume great for kids parties and…..well thats about it

The apertures. The lens requires manual drop in aperture plates like these

A pack of actual photos on photographic paper. Random but they're in there

The registration papers

My certificate of quality...

with my signed registered lens serial number

Cool ok so thats what the Kickstarter kids like me got but what will you get if you purchase the lens. This is what's currently listed on the package contents online as of March 2016.

• New Petzval 58 Bokeh Control Art Lens Brass *It does also come in black
• Standard Waterhouse aperture plates
• Front and rear lens cap
• Leather Pouch
• Only for preorders: 4 special aperture plates *I think thats pre-orders prior to May 2016
• Photo and manual book
• Instruction manual

So even if you buy it now you're not missing out on anything beyond the ND filter which although I think is a mandatory addition you can pick them up anywhere and it doesn't need to be a Petzval specific one any 52mm ND filter will work.

Personally I feel theres a little lip-service being paid to the 'hipster' community here with the leather pouch and heart shaped bokeh plates but even so it's a very well put together package and nothing seems last-minute or unfinished. All-in-all I was very happy indeed as I unboxed it for the first time. Most importantly thought is that the big brass beastie screams quality when you pick it up. The thing isn't going to win any prizes for being lightweight but every feels very solid and well made indeed.

The brass version Petzval 58 on my Nikon D600

'Looks like a pretty nice lens Jake but give me the elevator pitch for it'

• It's a 58mm prime lens.
• The version I have here is the Brass version and it also comes in Black.
• The apertures are manually changed via a drop-in process
• This one is a Nikon fit but they also have Canon fit version and with widely available adaptors you can also attach them to Fuji, Olympus and Sony cameras.
• It's a manual focus lens and does not communicate in any way to the camera
• It has the ability to dial in the desired about of bokeh without effecting exposure

'So what is this Bokeh control thingy that everybody is bangin' on about?'

The dial on the barrel of the lens in the centre of the shot is the bokeh control ring. It goes from 1-7 and gives the ability to add or reduce the softness of the background bokeh.

This bokeh control knob is the thing that got everybody including myself excited last year and it's essentially a way of manually dialling in the amount of bokeh swirling and out of focus parts of the shot. This isn't the first time we've seen this idea and I know Nikon played with concept again in the 90's with their DC (defocus control) lenses (here's the master lens reviewer Kenny R gushing over the 105mm version). The results achieved with DC's weren't anywhere near as pronounced as they are here in the Petzval and it was a crisper and a more precise look but still this idea has been around forever. The reason why it's exiting here is because of the signature Petzval bokeh look that was a gorgeous look even before the introduction of the additional bokeh control so this extra user controlled refinement is a welcome addition indeed.

The bokeh control dial goes from 1-7 with 1 being the least and 7 being the most amount of blurring/swirling/bokeh. This dial in my opinion is the key feature of the lens and after my first test it's actually turning out to be more of a diverse look than I anticipated, which is great. What I mean is that it's not simply a case of the higher the input number the more blur, in fact I found that even on the lowest setting the bokeh although not prominent is actually smoother giving it the impression of being more blurred than it actually is. What this does is to separate the subject from the background a lot more clearly so it's a completely different look not necessarily better or worse. If you go onto the Lomo/Petzval site and look at the test shots they've shot at different apertures and bokeh controls you'll see what I mean. I've borrowed them below to show you.

You can see that at the same aperture value the bokeh control produces very different looks and more is not necessarily better. The lower bokeh control values create fantastic separation between subject and background whereas the higher values creates more swirling. Image taken from the lomography website and is owned by them and not my own

Beyond the obvious bokeh control of the backgrounds the bokeh control knob also effects the size of the focal  'sweet spot', this is the area in which the lens blurs regardless of the point of focus. You can see in the portrait images that I took at different values later on but its also present in the shots above. See how on the left hand image that the ladies sweater is sharp all over whereas the right hand shot the sweater is blurred even though the focal point hasn't moved. This is certainly a major factor to consider when choosing your bokeh control value.

Cool, cool Jake yeah I've seen a million and one bokeh ridden sun-through-tree-leaf shots but what's the lens actually like in a real life situation that doesn't involve a mobile forest and a sunny day?

Glad you asked as I was curious myself because up until I got my hands on the lens I wasn't sure how it would respond with real-life studio portraits either. My test shots are far from extensive and the purpose was to test the bokeh control at different values under studio portrait parameters. The following shots were all shot a the same f2 value and with the x4 ND filter attached to achieve that exposure with my studio strobes. The model was a metre from the background and was lit with a single large softbox behind me.

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Click on the images above to enlarge them. All images above were taken at f2 - bokeh control 1

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Click on the images above to enlarge them. All images above were taken at f2 - bokeh control 4

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Click on the images above to enlarge them. All images above were taken at f2 - bokeh control 7

It should be fairly apparent from the shots taken here that the difference in the bokeh control even in such close quarters and with limited background excitement is significant. Even so I am still strangely excited that I am not any further forward on my preference of bokeh control value. I had assumed that under these portrait conditions that the optimum bokeh input would be glaringly obvious. I had thought that either the lower values would be too insignificant to warrant using at all and similarly I had also assumed that the higher input values would be so dramatic to be rendered useless as well. Neither proved to be the case, in fact I feel that all the values have different merits and advantages and in the future I still think I would shoot any  portrait session at varying bokeh input levels to get different looks not just the 'best' look.

'It's a 58mm prime lens, surely thats not great for portraits?'

I've been asked about this several times before, 'which is the best portrait focal length for portraits?' and although the industry deems 85mm to 105mm as the preferred range I disagree. Petzval already has the 85mm out and I waited for the 58mm for this reason, in fact I felt so strongly about it that I wrote a whole article on the issue. If you're unsure or are interested to see what I mean then you can check out why 50mm is is more than fine for portraiture here 50mm vs 85mm: Which is the best focal length for portraiture?

The focal point is always dead centre, you can see here that I've gotten the model to put her hands above her head to give me a reason to keep her head in centre frame.

'That sweet-spot tho', it seems kinda small'

I have to say that yes, the size of the focusing sweet spot is going to be the biggest problem for me as I shoot studio portraits. The issue is that the edges of the frame are always going to be 'soft' regardless of the focusing or bokeh control value. You can see from my test shots that this sweet-spot does get bigger with the bokeh control set to 1 and pretty small when set to 7. You'll also see me try to adapt and compensate for this by shooting landscape and when in portrait orientation having the model put her hands above her head to give me a reason to keep her head in the centre of  the frame where the focused part is. Like I said theres no way around this and until there's a way to adjust the position of the sweet spot like in other art lenses your compositions will have to always have your subjects bang in the middle of frame.

It's also worth mentioning that although you can buy this lens and use it with adaptors to attach it to APS-C and micro 4/3 cameras your blurred edges will be greatly reduced on those smaller sensor sizes. Larger sweet spot, less blurring. Just something to consider if you're still using those little cameras.

'Those shots look great Jake but is there anything else I should know?'

That big ol' dial thing there is actually how you focus the lens. When the lens is attached it sits at the base of the lens and is operated via your left hand.

To be fair the important stuff is in the results and the rest is fluff in my opinion but with that being said there are certainly a few things to bear in mind. Remember that this lens is re-make of a vintage classic and as such there's a few things that are quite different to what most of us are used to with our modern lenses.

Focusing

First off, remember this is a manual focus lens. I've come from an age of manual focus cameras and I've also been shooting vintage lenses and art lenses that are all manual focus for years so this isn't an issue for me but I will say that manual focussing is a skill like any other. It takes time to get good at it and its perfectly natural to get out of focus shots to begin with, it happens and you will get fewer and fewer of them as you get more practiced with the discipline. But not only is this a manual focus lens but the focusing is done via a knob at the base of the lens not via the traditional barrel focus control we're currently used to. This I've never used before but I found it surprisingly ergonomic and easy to use in both landscape and portrait orientation. The focusing is firm and solid and felt surprisingly precise and at no point did I feel that it would slip. Even in portrait orientation I found it very easy to operate if not easier than with normal barrel focusing as you're often holding the lens barrel and that can interfere with focusing but the focussing knob is well out of the way so its a very easy task and you quickly adapt without interruption.

This is Petzval lens attached to my Nikon d600 and you can see that the dust-plate can't be removed with the lens attached to the camera body.

Aperture

The other key thing to keep in mind is that you have to manually adjust the aperture and you do this via the individually packaged aperture plates. Mine came with f1.9, f2, f2.8, f4, f5.6, f8, f11, f16 plus the dust-plate that sits in the lens on arrival to keep dust and dirt out. I shoot with the Nikon D600 and like most of the Nikons they have a pronounced flange above the lens mount which can be a pain for swooping the aperture plates in and out, in fact the dust plate can't be removed with the lens attached.

To my knowledge I don't think the Canon bodies have this issue so you guys should be fine. No matter though you can just make sure to put your aperture plate in place before you attach the lens. The opposite to not being able to remove the dust plate is that the apertures fall out of their own accord and on more than one occasion mine fell out when I switched from landscape to portrait orientation whilst shooting. The Petzval fix for this is to bend the purpose built lugs on top of the aperture plates with a pair of pliers to ensure a snugger fit in your 'unique' lens. I haven't taken pliers to mine yet but it's something to be wary of before you start.

Fruits of the man-drawer! I found an old carabiner to keep the loose aperture plates together. Highly recommended.

Talking of aperture plates, there was one thing that bugged me and that was that the plates came separately and loose wrapped in a box. The packaging was fine but once they're out all those plates are just rattling about in the bottom of my camera bag. I would have preferred a clip, clasp, ring, holder, binder, hook or even an old bootlace to keep them all together over a set of heart-shaped bokeh plates. But no matter, a quick rummage in the man-drawer bore fruits and I found an old carabiner to put them on. I strongly recommend you do the same before you bend them or worse, loose any.

One last thing on the manual apertures is that once they're in place thats it, its like having aperture preview on permanently. It's not a problem when shooting wide open on apertures like f2 but when you put the f11 and f16 plates in there then the viewfinder becomes pretty dark making it trickier to focus. It can't be helped and it's more apparent when shooting with flash and low powered modelling bulbs than natural light. To be fair I'm not sure who would buy this lens and then use it at f16 anyway.

The Good

It takes amazing pictures

Versatile focal length at 58mm. Great at portraits and landscapes alike

Very fast lens for a vintage re-make lens. It comes with an aperture as low as f1.9 which means this is a very fast and versatile in many lighting conditions.

Solid construction with stiff precise focussing

Bokeh control -Wohoooo!

Did I mention it takes amazing pictures

The Quirky

Manual focus lens that doesn't talk to the camera in any way

Aperture plates fall out on their own if not pre-bent by user

Doesn't come with a way of storing the aperture plates so they will get lost quickly if you're not careful

The dust plate can't be removed on some of the cameras when the lens is attached

The images captured are never going to be tack-sharp like in modern lenses, you just have to let go of this weird notion that sharper images mean 'better' images.

Single light portrait taken at f2 - Bokeh control 1

That's pretty much it guys, granted that is hardly a traditional lens review but this isn't a traditional lens so its tricky to compare it fairly. If you're after tack-sharp shots every time and you're looking for a lens to capture fast moving objects like kids and pets then this isn't for you. If however you're after a look that has bags of personality and a bit of soul then this might be for you. Don't expect to get this lens straight out of the box and take gorgeous images every time, this lens is commonly referred to as an 'art' lens and as such you have to adjust your expectations accordingly. The Petzval 58 will certainly make you work for it, it will make you stop and think, it will make you compose your shots, it will make you think before releasing the shutter but that work will be well worth it. With a little patience and experimentation this lens can create gorgeous images and even after my first test I fell in love with it.

I've been shooting for a while now and as result I usually look at the back of the camera a few times at the start of the shoot and then carry on shooting safe in the knowledge of knowing exactly what I was getting. Shooting with this lens for the first time meant that I was looking at the back of the camera after every shot because they were all different and it certainly put a lot of the excitement back into shooting of me.

The Petzval 58 enables you to 'create' photographs again, not just take them.

If that 'in-depth' review of mine has peaked your curiosity and you'd like to find out even more (if thats possible) then you can of course head on over to the Lomo site and take a look at some more test shots and get some more info. At present they're still fulfilling backorders from the Kickstarter backers but they are aiming to start shipping pre-orders by May 2016.

Here's the link Petzval 58 Bokeh Control Lens

Feel free to fire any question my way and I'll do my best to answer them. Let me know what you think of the lens so far and if you're considering getting one when they are released. 

Also, if you'd like to find out more about my work and any additional training and workshops I have available then please head on over to my training page Jake Hicks Photography Workshops

Gelled Fill Light - A Lesson in Refinement

This technique isn't going to turn any heads, it isn't even going to be new to most of you, in fact you may even glance at the shots and think you already know everything about it. That may be true, but I doubt it.

One of the things I love seeing at my workshops is watching the attendees have those 'ah-ha' moments. We've all had them at some point, and they're usually the simplest of things that are the final piece to completing a look or technique we've been chasing to perfect for far to long. The eureka moment happens where we are shown something that although obvious when shown, it's somehow eluded us and its a common problem when we are teaching ourselves.

The reason for this is simple, we're teaching ourselves a subject that has no right and wrong so when we shoot something that looks ok we're happy. The thing is, although that shot looks ok it can usually be improved with a little refinement and knowledge of good technique and thats what I want to look at today.

So lets look at the basic setup to begin with; the classic 'clam-shell' lighting technique. This particular setup that I've used here is a mutation of that fundamental light above, light below beauty lighting but with a few tweaks of my own. Firstly we have our beauty dish above the models head height and as directly in front of her as you can (more of the importance of that little technique here). Then we have a small softbox on the floor at her feet and that softbox has been gelled with a blue gel. More on the actual gel in a bit but for now lets concentrate on the lighting placement. From the diagram provided you should be able to see that both lights are very close to the model and that is done for a reason. Each lighting modifier we have does tend to have optimum performance ranges which is just a fancy way of saying they create 'better' looking light when placed at a specific distances to the subject. I'd like to point out that the basis of this article is not to debate what 'better' light is but for the sake of argument just go with me on this, its better.

My 22" Bowens beauty dish is usually placed  about a metre away or just out of arms reach of the model (this is measurement value not a trust issue with the model ;) ). The 60cmx60cm square softbox is then placed at the base of that stand and angled up towards to the model. There will be more on the exact angle of the softbox in a moment but for now lets look at the gel placement.

Hilarious it may be, but cool it ain't. I've seen this in the past as a way of gelling a softbox. It fairness it seems logical enough and although it will colour some of the light that leaves it, it will be pale and washed out. Apart from that, this must have been a real pain to apply!

In the past I spent many years training in studios and I've seen some absolute cracking examples of gel placement on lights. From literally 'wrapping' the bulb to blu-tack to parcel tape, you name a sticky tape and people have tried attaching a gel to a light with it. Gels are pretty simple things and they don't need much for them to work properly but one of the fundamental factors in getting them to work correctly is to ensure they are completely covering the point of light they are trying to colour. There's no point covering some of the light or even most of it as any light that escapes un-gelled is going to ruin your desired tone and you'll end up with a washed out insipid version of your colour instead. I've seen people buying huge sheets of gels to try and cover the front of their softboxes and if you've got the resources then this is one way to go. A slightly simpler, cheaper and easier way to go though is to simply just gel the source.

The top images here show that I have only taped the gel inside my softbox on two sides. The resulting righthand side image is showing a paler, washed out colour that is very susceptible to being washed out even further by other lights in the setup. The image at the bottom shows the gel taped in completely on all four sides so that no white light is allowed to escape and wash out the desired colour resulting in a rich and highly saturated colour.

Pretty much every softbox I've ever seen has a removable front cover that can be removed to gain access to the inside of the softbox. With this front cover removed you can then also access the source of the light and its here where we need to gel. For myself I actually remove the modelling bulb altogether (when you're shooting digitally you don't really need the modelling bulbs on for every light), then I just tape the gel over the middle of the softbox ensuring its covering the entire flash tube. By using this technique you can use a far smaller and more cost effective sized sheet of gel. The gel sheet used here is 10"x12"/255mmx305mm which as luck would have it is exactly the same size as the gels I sell :D

It may also seem like 'overkill' but I tape all four sides of the gel in there too. This ensures that absolutely no white light escapes around the sides of the gel. Failing to do this will result in a washed out and desaturated colour.

This is a stopped down shot of the front of my 60cmx60cm softbox when the flash is fired. It clearly shows that the centre of it is brighter than the edges and this brighter centre point is referred to as the 'hotspot'.

Finally we move onto the refinement of our technique and now that we've gelled our softbox fill-light correctly it's here that we'll take a closer at the placement and power. Earlier I mentioned that the softbox is positioned at the base of the key light, thats fine but we need to take a closer look at the angle we point it at. With any setup that involves lights being this close to the subject you need to be very careful indeed about their positioning. Any monkey with a camera and a 6ft octabox can take a half decent picture and you certainly don't need a baccalaureate in the science of light to place it correctly. When we bring our lights in close to the model like this then its super easy to get ugly lighting super quick and we need to be aware of whats going on to avoid it. For the topic of this article I want to focus on the hotspots present in every light we use. Hotspots are created by every softbox whether they have an internal baffle or not and they are the result of the centre of the softbox being brighter than the edges. This isn't normally a problem when the softboxes are further away but when they're up close to the model like this they can create a few problems.

The image at the top displays the common and most obvious fill light placement with it being pointed directly at the models face. This creates an overpowering and often unflattering light due to the softboxes hotspot. The bottom image instead shows a softbox pointed at the models torso, allowing for a far more flattering light to fall onto the face.

So how do we overcome this issue of the hotspot in our softbox when using it this closely? Thankfully it's a simple solution and one that will produce the 'ah-ha' moment when implemented correctly. Before we continue though, remember that this is our fill-light, the lighting it produces is not supposed to be overtly seen in the shot. What I mean by this is that I always see people using fil-lights that are far to overpowering in the shot. Every image should have a single key-light and every other light should complement that light not fight for its attention. The point of this setup is not to scream 'hey check me out, I'm using a blue fill' but to add visual interest to a shot. Trust me theres a distinct difference and I wish I could morally show you work where people are failing to see this difference.

So because this is a fill-light we need to soften the light as much as possible and we do this by angling the fill-light down and point it at the models torso. In doing so we use the softest part of the light, and bathe the models face in a feathered softer edge light not the centre hard hot-spot. You actually have a lot more control of the light as well and you'll find that the blue isn't drowning out the key light anymore. It's also worth bearing in mind that this is really only effective for headshots and half-body shots but you can't shoot any lower than that anyway because otherwise you'd get see the physical light in the shot.

I know this seems simplistic but trust me this is what I mean when I say 'refining our lighting', all these things add up to a better than ok image. Next time you're doing a headshot, whether you're using a gel on the fill-light or not, think about where you're pointing it and try to angle it down more than you'd think.

Key Points to Remember:

1.  Get those lights in nice and close to get a more 'sculpted' look. Just out of the models arms reach is a good place to start.

2. No need to cover the entire modifier in gels, just the actual light source itself. As long as the flash tube is covered, everything else is fine.

3. Make sure you completely cover the flash, not just most of it. Any gap in the gel will allow white light to escape and wash out the colour so tape the whole the thing down.

4. To make it easier to cover the flash with smaller gels, try removing the modelling bulb. This will allow the gel to sit right next to the flash tube thereby ensuring it's completely covered plus your gels won't decompose into coloured melted cheese.

5. Be wary of the hotspot on your fill-lights that are close to the model. All softboxes have hotspots so angle the fill-light down a little and feather the light hitting the models face to ensure a softer and more beautifying light.

Give it a go, share any results my way as I'd love to see them and by all means fire away any questions down below.

Model: Layla Leigh

Makeup Artist: Emma Cadec

If you'd like to get some coloured gels of your own to experiment with then you can always get the ones I use and I've specifically built packs of gels that I work with on all of my shoots. You can find out more here but in this setup I used the 'Rich Teal' colour from the 'Definitive Collection' gel pack. Jake Hicks Photography Gel Packs

If you're interested in refining your photographic skills even more and would like to know an absolute mountain of knowledge when using coloured gels you can always come along to one of my incredibly popular Jake Hicks Photography - Coloured Gel Lighting Workshop click on the link to find out more and check the availability.

Alternatively I also run complete post-pro workflow workshops where I go through absolutely everything I do to get my images magazine ready Jake Hicks Photography - Post Pro Workshop