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

2 Comments

  1. kibs
    kibs ·

    Fabulous album, great results!! I'm so glad you reminded me of this technique!! When I had all my camera equipment years ago I tried this on an inexpensive filter. One time I put tiny dots of the stuff all over the lens which made for some interesting shots.

  2. buckshot
    buckshot ·

    @kibs Very kind of you! :-) Yes, I used an inexpensive filter on an inexpensive lens for this too - wouldn't want to get gunky grease anywhere near my Nikon lenses!