Butterfly Sanctuary, Croc Park © Jojie Alcantara 2012
“Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the not-quite, the not-yet, the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been able to reach. Check your road and the nature of your battle. The world you desired can be won. It exists, it is real, it is possible, it is yours”. ~ Ayn Rand, Russian-born American Author
If you think the swirly bokeh (blurred background for the non-photographers) on my image is way cool, wait till you see the other photos I took with my toy lens. I ordered it on my birthday (January), was shipped within 24 hours, and I got to play with the stuff that most lomographers are similarly having a blast with.
Light, fun gears for the serious photographer © Jojie Alcantara 2012
See that teeny weeny unit in the middle with the candy colored rings? That’s the toy lens from SLR Magic, a company in Japan. This type of lens is only for micro 4/3 cameras.
My Oly and toy lens © Jojie Alcantara 2012
Am not exactly a lomo fan, or on off-kilter colors and abstract images. But I love color processing, vintage, sepia, or nostalgic film-imitating outputs. I am spontaneous with my leisure photography and I don’t worry too much about the outcome. Of course, this is only when I am out to play, and not on a paid project assignment. That’s when my serious gears come out.
The flip side of my serious gears are my point and shoot cam, micro 4/3 cam and toy lens. Then I go out and enjoy the Ten Golden Rules of Lomography.
Size of toy lens © Jojie Alcantara
In a nutshell, just don’t worry about the outcome of your capture. You can control the manuals. Shoot from the hip, if you must. It’s the best form of practice towards your other passion. No, not bellydancing, I meant serious photography. 🙂
Here below I used a micro 4/3 adapter, so that I can connect my 50mm Canon lens and extension tubes on my Olympus EPL-3 and EP-3. Welcome to Macropolis!
Macro © Jojie Alcantara 2012
Tiny flower © Jojie Alcantara 2012
If you are a perfectionist, though, this lens may not be for you with its unpredictable output. But if you relax, go with the flow, and find the swirls, vignetting and depth of field “gnarly”, then welcome to the club of the besotted. 🙂
© Jojie Alcantara 2012
Review on the SLR Magic Toy Lens
I shall be posting more fun shoots with my teeny weeny toy lens, and the “accidental” nice shots.
The Scene Stealer 
hi ma’am i just want to ask you something, by the way. i’m an amateur photographer. ma’am, ano po ba ang dapat gawin para maging nice yung effects ng photo. kagaya ng sayo. high dynamic range photo. ung unit ko po ay. nikon d5100. meron po ba kayung masusugest? thank you God bless
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Hello Apollo! To get nice effects in your photo, always experiment and practice. As for the high dynamic range image that you want, you can only get such shots when you dabble with post processing softwares like Photoshop, or acquire some NDR filters for your lens. But then again, do some research on other softwares that will give you satisfying output with your photos, ones that will not cost you a lot since you are still on a learning curve. Lastly, concentrate on composition. If your image does not look good with the lighting, come back again another day. Improvise. Change your angles. Wait for the light and catch it. You will see the difference if you make more effort in your practice. If you want to follow my style, simplify. I don’t even carry a flash with me most times. I always rely on available light.
Sana nakatulong ako sayo. Thank you for dropping by.
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