Part 1

Part 2

A Lens Baby is an unconventional lens, created by Craig Strong. The Lens Baby’s do not focus like traditional lenses, they have whats called a “Sweet Spot” which allows you to tilt the lens and focus on what you want, and everything outside of the “Sweet Spot” will be gradually blurred. If I was asked to describe the effect Lens Baby’s create I couldn’t, but this article from PopPhoto may help.

Is It Hard to Use?

Though it may take some people a matter of minutes to master this lens, it may take awhile for others. I myself don’t even think i have come close to being an expert with this lens, there are just too many possibilities to claim that.

Is It Versatile?

Ya probably the most versatile lens I own! Currently I have the macro kit for mine, there are also several others such as wide angle and step up shade. Click here for full list of accessories. Not only are there accessories but a whole optic swap system, allowing you to swap between a plastic, glass, double glass, and more! Click here for the full list of optics.

Examples

Here are some shots I have taken with my Lens Baby Muse so far. Note that I have the 2x Glass optic in mine and some photographs have the macro conversions on. Click images to see larger versions.

Taken with Lens Baby Muse, with macro conversion kit using both the +4 and +10.

Using the +4 macro I believe.

I may have used the +4 macro conversion on this but im not sure.

Taken with the Lens Baby Muse.

Conclusion (final thoughts)

If you are passionate about photography and want a to get some really unique shots, then get a Lens Baby. Not only do the base lens’s allow for a unique style of photography and with the accessories available your creativity is nearly unlimited.

Lens Baby Muse Review
Quality
The quality of the parts are strong and sturdy.
Is it worth it?
While some people may say this is more for fun and not worth it, I have made it part of my arsenal.
Accessories
With a ton of accessories available you can shoot some really cool stuff.

Overall
Overall the Lens Baby Muse is great and should be in your camera bag!.

Sorry about the lame star system, if you have any ideas for a rating system leave a comment below.

The List

The list is not in order of best to worst, just in the order that I put them to.

Video Copilot

Video Copilot is a very popular After Effects tutorial site if not the most popular.

Motion Works

Motionworks is an amazing site, the tutorials on this site are top notch.

Max After

MaxAfter features some sweet tutorials for After Effects and 3Ds Max.

Maltaannon

Maltaannon.com has some excellent tutorials for After Effects as well as some free plug ins!

LFP Industries

This site features many tutorials on how to create effects seen in the hit TV show Heroes.

Layers Magazine

Layers Magazine has tutorials for every Adobe program and some descent After Effects tutorials.

Gray Machine

Gray Machine has some awsometacular tutorials defiantly worth a look.

GoMediaZine

A plentiful amount of tutorials and freebies.

Creative Cow

A legend itself creative cow is a pioneer of the tutorial sites maybe not the first but sure is up there.

Ae Tuts+

Ae Tuts+ is a fantastic member of the tuts+ family check it out its updated several times a week.

Thats a Wrap

This concludes the Top Ten AE Tutorial Sites of 09′ be sure to subscribe to our RSS feed.

The List

The list is not in order of best to worst, just in the order that I put them to.

Greyscale Gorilla

Okay this site is one of my all time favorites, its run by Nick Campbell who has done some pretty famous work in the Motion Design Industry. Read more about him on his about page.

C4D Cafe

This is an excellent website, featuring contests, forums, and everyone there is good people.

C4D Training

This is a great site for video tutorials and learning some of Cinema 4D’s Capabilities.

CG Tuts+

This site not only contains amazing Cinema 4D tutorials but many other 3D program tutorials.

Creative Cow

Creative Cow I don’t think their is a tutorial website with more history then this.

Kreative Domain

This website focuses heavily on Cinema 4D and Realflow.

Leah Raeder

Covers some nice topics such as setting up a default start up scene.

Motion Works

These tutorials are AMAZING they are extremely helpful for making title sequences and advertisements.

Pariah Studios

This site is excellent for learning how to use the hair module in Cinema 4D and teaching some of C4D’s Tags.

Sketchy Pictures

This site is great for learning cool text effects in C4D.

Well something I decided to make of coarse. Anyways there will be a guaranteed amount of 3 Hazy Studio Top Ten Sites, you are still probably wondering what they are.

What They Are?

Okay they are simply the best 10 tutorial/training/tip sites for a given subject.

What Three Are You Guaranteed?

Okay okay here is the list in order of their release.

1. Cinema 4D Top Ten Sites of 09′
2. Photography Top Ten Sites of 09′
3. Photoshop Top Ten Sites of 09′

What Others May You See?

1. After Effects
2. Illustrator
3. And any others requested in the comments…. That is if any one would comment.. Get a lot of views no comments…

When You Will Get To See Them?

As soon as tomorrow! Well the Cinema 4D one is finished and will be published sometime tomorrow. The other two will be released sometime this year… Get it there is only about 22 days.

I doubt you’re actually thinking that and if you are… well it’s self explanatory.

What Do I Need

1. A camera with manual controls
2. Tripod or Gorilla Pod
3. Remote trigger “or on camera timer to allow camera to settle before the photo is taken”
4. A scene with some light “you cant take a picture with no ambient light”

Set Up

Step 1

1. Start by finding a stable surface to set your tripod or Gorilla Pod.
2. Navigate to one of your cameras manual modes on the dial or menu they often look like.
   1. A-Dep = Automatic Depth of Field, camera picks the depth of field.
   2. M = Manual, it gives you full control over the shutter speed and aperture size. “Recommended for those who have an idea of how to do this”
   3. AV = Aperture Priority, when changing you aperture in this mode the shutter speed is automatically set. “Recommended”
   4. TV = Shutter Priority, lets you set the shutter speed while automatically changing the aperture.
   5. P = Programmable Mode, basically an advanced version of the Auto Mode allowing changes to be made to ISO, white balance, drive mode, metering mode, ect…
3. Why manual modes?
   1. Manual modes give you more control over your camera, by allowing you to change the white balance, ISO, shutter speed, aperture size, and other features.

Step 2

1. After setting your camera up set it to either “M” or “AV” I would recommend “AV” especially for those not familiar with manual settings.
2. If you are shooting..
   1. Landscapes/City Scapes use a lower ISO like 200, and an Aperture larger than F16. “if your camera has noise reduction for long exposures I would turn it on”
   2. For people use a larger aperture such as F6 and an ISO of 400.
3. Time to take the shot, either use the built in timer in your camera or a remote trigger.
   1. When using the timer use a long timer to allow the camera to settle after you remove your hands.
   2. When using a remote trigger allow time for camera to settle after handling it.
4. Take the shot, make sure nothing moves the camera because you are more than likely in for a long exposure.

Issues That May Occur

1. Motion Blur
   1. Cars moving “often a wanted effect”
   2. From camera shake “not wanted”
2. High Noise ” long exposures and high ISO make for a lot of noise”

Rule Of Thumb

For Landscapes/Cityscapes

1. If there isn’t enough light in an area for you to see around you chances are your camera wont either.
2. Find a scene where the majority is lit to avoid over exposing/under exposing the image

For Portraits

1. Make sure the subject stays as still as possible for the duration of the exposure.

Examples

Shot on Thanks Giving 2009 Atop a roof in St.Louis. I did this shot handheld, it has a little blur but turned out nice.

Shot on Thanks Giving 2009 Atop a roof in St.Louis

Taken atop a roof in St.Lous Thanks Giving Day 2009. I set a timer on my camera got next to my brother and during the exposure we left thus giving a ghostly image.

Note: Please click on the images for higher resolution and bigger view.

Final Image:

3D Program

Step#1

First I have created my 3D text using a 3D program just for time saving.

Photoshop

Step#2

I have exported the 3D file into Photoshop, so it was one image, the text and the background wasn’t separated and that isn’t good. I have used the magic wand to put each object in a separate layer

Step#3

Then I have selected only the faces of each letter from the text using the magic wand which was easier for me.

Tip: If the magic wand didn’t work then try and use the pen tool or any other tool that your prefer to select.

Step#4

Now go to Select>Modify>Contract… and contract it by 5 pixels.

Step#5

Add new layer and and fill it with black, in the select we have made above and put the opacity to 50%.

Hot keys: “D” to rest colour to default black for foreground and white to background  -  ”Alt + Backspace” to fill the select/layer with your foreground colour.

Step#6

Now we need to select the 5 Pixel stock we contracted, in order to do that we need to make a selection of the faces again as we did before in step3#, and then subtract from that selection the layer on step5# (The -5 pixel faces)

Hot key: after selecting the faces as in step3# hold “ctrl + Alt” and click on the layer as in step5#.

Step#7

Add new layer and fill your select with any colour,  then create your background as your prefer.

Step#8

Apply the following Layer style settings and the step7# layer.

Step#9

Add new layer above the original separated 3D text layer (step2#) now click that blank layer to the 3D text layer (step#2)

now start painting/fill the clipped layer, I have used #ffba00 as my foreground color.

Step#10

Use the Burn, Dodge, Blur tools to give it dimension.

Tip: you can blur your layer with 4pixel or less to have a smooth result

Hot keys: use “["  to make your brush size smaller and "]” to make your brush size bigger, use “Shift + [" to make your brush softer and "Shift + ]” to make your brush harder.

Step#11

Select step5# layer and do the same as we did in step11#

Hot key: use “Ctrl + Select layer” to make select around the layer objects.

That is all for Part #1, please visit us back soon for part #2.