Cottage in the Hills

Looking across the Vale of Avoca this morning I spotted this small cottage sitting in the fields and just below the abandoned old mine workings. A little higher and to the left there is a slag heap which I hope never decides to move down the mountain or they could be in trouble.

This was shot using the same set up as yesterday. Technically I was using a lens but in fact it was so rudimentary as to be pretty well a non lens. Those who guessed that I had breathed on the lens were going in the right direction based on the visual evidence since the effect is pretty similar. The problem with this trich though is that the misting only lasts a few seconds and probably wouldn't work at all out of doors.

What I did was to mount an extension bellows on the camera and attached to the front, with blue tac, a pretty poor quality plastic close up lens which came free with Practical Photography Magazine sometime around 1969. By racking the bellows in and out a more or less in focus image can be obtained. Of course it can never be truly sharp and suffers from just about every optical error ever imagined, but therein lies the charm. It's great for super soft portraits and shouldn't be too difficult for anyone out there to replicate. All you need is a bellows and a magnifying glass!!