Have you met my Lensbaby (Part 1)

Mister Man knows that way to a girl's heart is NOT always through a pair of shoes or a box of chocolates, but through a really nifty photo gadget that will bring her years of joy. Two years ago he gave me this beautiful beast.

World, meet my Lensbaby.

Purdy isn't she? But wait 'til you see what she DOES! *This image was not doctored in post*

Nope. Nothing was done in post because the lens did it ALL baby! Yup. That's because this is a selective SLR lens that brings a single area of your image into sharp focus, while everything else falls away into pillowy softness.

You work the lens like you would a bellows, bending it like a pretzel in a Bikram's Yoga class until you find the one sweet spot that makes your heart sing. So one bit of your photo is in focus and everything else is (literally) warm and fuzzy. I borrowed this image from the Digital Foto and Video Site to show you how it works....

And then you end up with images like these:

I love this lens SO much. And I can hardly wait to show you happened when we took it to the fair. I'll save that trip for a rainy day.