How to Step by Step Tutorial: Freelensing. Showing you how to freelens with a canon as that is what I am using here in this freelensing tutorial. Freelensing with a canon 50mm lens – be prepared to get addicted to this photography hack and trick!
Free Lensing with my camera is probably one of my most recent favorite techniques to play around with. It’s not a technique I shoot with often but when I do I’m reminded how much fun it is.
With my little one always on the move or always into a new adventure, it’s been fun to grab my camera and document her days.
At the same time documenting her days can become the same old same old for me as far as camera and photography techniques go. So today I decided to break out of the normal and try some free lensing shots while she was experimenting with her water color paints!
How to Step by Step Tutorial: Freelensing
What is Free Lensing?
It maybe a foreign language to you…but hang tight and I hope to educate you.
So, freelensing is super awesome! It’s a technique in which your lens is actually detached from your camera body. Yes, you really can still take photos that way! Trust me, I was surprised too! Not only can you can take photos, you end up with gorgeous shots that are unlike any others.
You see by detaching your lens and holding it up to your camera body, you are creating what is called a “tilt-shift” effect. You are allowing little light leaks, and beautiful distortion into your pictures!
Free lensing is so much fun to play around with. It becomes an addiction. Trust me.
How to Freelense with Canon
STEP 1– Adjust your manual settings where they need to be. So keep your lens on your camera and meter for your light as if you’re shooting in a normal way. 
STEP 2– Set your lens to manual focus (MF) and set the focus ring to infinity.
STEP 3 – Turn Off Your camera
STEP 4 – Detach your Lens. Once your lens is detached you won’t be able to adjust your aperture, so that is why your exposure pretty much needs to be set where you want it before you remove the lens.
STEP 5 – Turn camera back on.
(I am using a Canon 50mm 1.2 lens and Canon mark iii body as shown below)
STEP 6 – Hold your lens up to the camera and focus manually by moving lens around. Tilting the lens up, down, or side to side.
STEP 7– Practice A lot.
TIP : Your camera can no longer uses it’s focusing functions because the lens is detached. Obvious right? That means you are in complete control of what you focus on. Totally awesome, but also difficult to learn how to control.
By keeping your lens close to the camera body, you are better able to focus on subjects at a farther distance. If you want to focus on something real close, for example, your sweet newborn baby’s beautiful lips, get close to your subject and pull the lens farther away from the camera. This creates a macro type photo!
Here is another great read I have on 7 Tips to Master Freelensing — I hope this helps you embark on a new creative photography trick!
Hi I’m Erin a Southern mama from South Mississippi, owner and chief editor of Sixth Bloom a blog helping mom-tographers capture their kiddos and life, talking all things home, parenting and how we navigate through life. You will find me living life to the fullest with my mister (aka husband) and our two year old, Miss Elle, in our 500+ sq foot cottage as we build our dream house on our two acres! We are blessed beyond measure, love to travel, involved in ministry at our church and in between all of that I run three successful businesses! Follow me at: WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | PINTEREST
Emily says
I have been trying to do this but my photos turn out all white and blurry. What am I doing wrong??
Sixth-Bloom says
are you setting your camera settings before you take lens off? another words be sure you are getting your manual mode settings correct first. i.e. setting ISO, aperture and shutter speed for the lighting scenario, then turn off your camera, take your lens off, turn your camera back on.