This is a manual aperture lens. I am trying to remember now, CSand. It is a very thin plain of focus at that aperture and I know I was using it at that aperture that morning as I took several shots of kitty. This photo is not cropped, however. So now I am wondering if I went to F/2 or F/2.8 for this one. I did have that ISO 1600. The trouble is that the aperture doesn't show up in my EXIF and I have a middle aged memory. I will shoot kitty again at the same distance with both and see what I come up with. Maybe I can figure out if I made a mistake or not.

The soft pink of the flowers in the last one is lovely. You have really nice detail on all the flower petals and the dark centers are nicely lit. That can be a challenge with dark centered flowers. Very nice.

I especially like the white one that you shot from underneath the flower. The veining and detail is lovely. The light is very nice as well.

Lensbaby Velvet 56
ISO 1600
f/1.6
1/160 sec

Snick comes rolling in from outdoors just in time to make sure I am up at 5 most mornings. As soon as I get up, she snuggles in for a nap before our hike. This morning the light coming through the blinds made me run down and get my camera out of the car.

Snick

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Yes! It's your vision of it that counts.

Smiling ... yes .. I have the advantage of looking at it from the perspective of knowing snick very well. That's the advantage of having a place to get feedback. Now I am wondering how much DOF I need for the viewer who does not know Snick. How much is too much? Where would I cross the line and lose the dreamy feel of the image that I intended. That is what Lensbaby is all about ... coming right up to the line. Oh .. I thought of this song when I saw her laying on the path. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwZc5W8tLK4

Velvet 56
F/1.6
Very thin DOF
thoughts?

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I really like it for the reasons you stated in your original post. The soft blues in the water are mesmerizing. I very much like the gull and I think the reflection is unusual and really adds something special to the pic. My only wish is that the gull was not centered. Since this is so much about the water, I think a thirds location would have given more attention to the vast water with the lone gull sailing over it's beauty. Lovely shot.

No Mercy needed Joe. It's a beautiful image. The clarity is gorgeous. The exposure is spot on, and your depth of field is wonderful. I think the composition leads the viewer through the frame quite nicely.

I Love that lens. It is on my full frame camera more than anything else right now. Thank you CathyAnn.

Yes ... the curves, Jane. Flowers are all about curves, line, colour, shape and texture aren't they? The light was naturally and beautifully diffused this day. It's so much easier than trying to get a reflector and diffuser in the right place on a harsh light day. Thank you and thanks Dan for the kind comment.

Velvet 56 again. I have this habit of using the heck out of a lens to see what it can do. I've strayed from my own advice here. I didn't embrace the blur for this one

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Thank you all for your thoughts ... John .. I agree .. never enough shots of dahlias. They are gorgeous. I have some purple ones coming.

Honestly I don't remember. It's the Lensbaby Velvet 56. It has the manual aperture and my camera doesn't talk to this lens .. or maybe the other way around. I experimented with different apertures that night as well as using different focal lengths to achieve the amount of blur I wanted.

I struggle in live view because the exposure doesn't show up properly. When it looks right, it's actually much too bright. I've done better since I started using my viewfinder. One tip I heard about adjusting your viewfinder is to look at the lcd info in the viewfinder screen and adjust until it looks sharp. As far as the 35 and 50 optics .. wish I'd skipped the 35 and bought the edge 80. But maybe I'll find a use for that 35 yet. Who knows. I love the velvet 56. In fact it's one of my most used lenses. I like it for landscape too at the smaller apertures. This is a shot with the aperture at F/8 .. I think .. or F/11. Can't remember now.

http://500px.com/photo/208716653/saint-clair-lake-by-sandra-nightski?ctx_page=1&from=user&user_id=5883322

As you can see, when it's stopped down it's a tack sharp little lens. No glow ... maybe a bit at the edges. Must have been f/8.