Vaseline on filter

I read about this effect many years ago, but never actually tried it until today: smear Vaseline (petroleum jelly) around the outside of a skylight filter on the front of your lens, leaving a clear circle in the middle, to get a sharp centre and soft-focus outer edge to your shots. I used a 28-210mm Vivitar zoom lens on my Nikon body, and prefer how the effect works on the wider shots than the zoomed-in ones... although I'm pretty happy with them all, actually :-)

Photographer:
buckshot
Uploaded:
2013-04-20
Tags:
effect homemade filter soft focus vaseline
Camera:
Nikon F100
Film:
Kodak Ultramax 400 (35mm)
City:
Farnham, Surrey
Country/region:
United Kingdom
Year:
2013
Time:
morning
Albums:
The Vaselines

3 Comments

  1. adash
    adash ·

    Hm....28-210mm Vivitar zoom lens? Do you have a photo of it, I believe I have the same, but on Pentax mount.
    Nice effect, BTW.

  2. buckshot
    buckshot ·

    @adash: Thanks! Mine looks like this, except it has a slightly different grip: images.bidorbuy.co.za/user_images/523/269523_111021151445_I… It came with the Nikon FA I bought in a charity shop. It's a pretty crap lens, actually: shortest focusing distance of 1.4m and a really loose aperture ring.

  3. adash
    adash ·

    Thanks for sharing. Mine is nothing like that. The focal length is the same, but the rest is not.

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