Inspired#29

Framing using detail and a Helios lens

Hello and welcome to Inspired, a weekly email for my paid subscribers. In this series I want to explore topics which I hope might spark some inspiration for your own photography. I will talk about my thought process for creating images, both in the field and in post processing. The posts will be linked in some way to the monthly challenges, hopefully giving you all lots of food for thought.

This week I wanted to focus on smaller details for my framing discussion but to make things more interesting I thought I would work entirely with my vintage Helios 44-2 lens. This produces some beautiful bokeh and some lovely painterly effects which can definitely enhance the framing of a subject.

The Helios lens is a Russian lens mass produced in the USSR between 1958 and 1999. These lenses are relatively cheap and easy to get hold of and are renowned for their swirly bokeh. They are compatible with an M42 mount and with an adaptor they can be used on any modern camera.

I have had mine for a little while and have been really enjoying the images I can make with it.

So for this week’s blog I returned to my local heath to see how creative I could be with the autumn colours and the fading heather.