OK - real stupid question -- but HELP! Someone once said that smearing vaseline on lens in circular motion would produce an erie effect on the image. Is this true? How in the world do you clean it off the lens? Second question: Sites where I can view other works that are dreamlike/fantasy -- preferably B&W sites. Thanks from a novice.

-- Red Spirit (nagiluta@netscape.net), April 25, 1999

Answers

Vaseline on Lens

on suggeston is to put the vaselene on a UV filter not the lens. That way you have less to lose if you cant get it off

-- gerald whyte (gwhyte@ibm.net), April 25, 1999.

Hummm ... I tried it once and I almost lost my filter ... the vaseline is kind difficult to clean ... I used dish soap carefully ... but the effect is cool ... a skylight filter is cheap and if I were you I would buy onde just to use with vaseline ...

-- Charles Dias (deepblue97a@hotmail.com), April 26, 1999.

Hummm ... I tried it once and I almost lost my filter ... the vaseline is kind difficult to clean ... I used dish soap carefully ... but the effect is cool ... a skylight filter is cheap and if I were you I would buy onde just to use with vaseline ... ahhh, the dreamlike/fantasy effects you want is often found in glamour photo.

-- Charles Dias (deepblue97a@hotmail.com), April 26, 1999.

What they said, only, you can also use other things like hairspray gentally coating the uv filter lens to make some really nice, soft effects. NEVER do that to the lens itself, always use something like a plateglass filter, or uv lens. Otherwise you stand to really mess up the coatings on you hundred dollar + lenses, and THAT'S not fun = (

-- Dylan (sensuous@innocent.com), April 29, 1999.

I have successfuly used liquid dish soap smeared on the UV filter in the same manner you would the vaseline, it comes off the filter easier. I have also experimented with nylon stretched over the filter form some interesting fuzz...

-- kat (kr@ray-belthoff.com), May 01, 1999.

I suppose David Hamilton breathes on the lens just before pressing the button to get misty images.

Vaseline or any other medium (syrup etc) is worth while trying, but I suggest you put it on plastic foil (overhead slide material or something similar) or piece of window glass or some else material, which you can hold in front of the lens. Rubber bands can be used to hold those in place, Cokin filter holder is even better. In some Cokin packages there are foils for this included.

UV filters are not so cheap, anyway.

-- sakke (sakari.makela@koulut.vantaa.fi), May 06, 1999.

Another method to try is to print the negative with the above filters over the enlarging lens, at least for part of the time, and with some motion. The light is still diffused in the same way but now it smudges the blacks in the print!! You lose some contrast but the effect is wonderful.

-- Andy Laycock (agl@intergate.bc.ca), May 08, 1999.

vaseline

Robert Farber made a lot of great photographs using this method. He also used common hairspray in the same manner. It seems to create a painterly effect in the final image. Best I can tell, he doesn't use this much anymore but used it extensively in some of his earlier work.

-- Frank Shepherd (franks@netdoor.com), May 25, 1999.