Lensbaby vs. Dreamy Photo FX plug-in

I'm interested in playing more with selective focus and out-of-focus areas in an image.

I've heard of the Lensbaby and it seems to get great reviews. I've also heard of the free

Photoshop plug-in called Dreamy Photo and that seems to be a decent choice as well.

 

My question is, what does the Lensbaby do that can't be done via post-processing in

Photoshop? Is it worth the $150? One thing that comes to mind is that I'd prefer to spend

more time out shooting with my camera and less behind a computer manipulating images.

Might be worth it on that alone.

 

But I'd like to hear what you all think and any experiences you have with the Lensbaby or

Dreamy Photo plug-in or both.

 

Thanks,

Chris

Lensbaby was a cute, novelty photo 'gadget' when it first came out but, like any novelty, the problem is that it becomes over used and the effect is no longer 'different'. People will say "Oh, yeah..that's that lens-thingee thing."

 

There are lots of special effects filters, gadgets and novelty effects (done either in hardware or as PS plug-ins) that need to be used sparingly (if at all) and which quickly become dated and tacky.

From what I read online about this plug-in it does not seem to do the same thing Lensbaby does.

If the idea is to focus selectively, you can easily do it in CS2 with Lens Blur.

I've been researching lensbaby's for a few weeks now and I think Meryl sums up exactly the conclusion I've come to. Special effects are great but the blurred portion that you lose with a lensbaby is a portion of the iamge that you will never get back. Why not get a crisp complete photo and then tweak it artistically after. Creating the effect through a gimmicky lens (that is tricky to find your central focal point and has a real learning curve) or through a tastefully selected PS filter will sit the same with anyone looking at the image. Thanks Meryl, your comments helped me!

Scott, I used to feel the same and actually used to pooh-pooh people with Holgas saying why waste time "ruining" a neg when you can take a "perfect neg", keep it as perfect as you want or "ruin" it all you want in PS? Both choices. <p>

 

Then I got a Holga, then I got a Lensbaby. A large part of the fun and creativity is not always knowing what you get and getting results and effects you may not have dreamed, though of, or even considered or knew how to do. I've gotten some great shots with my Holgas and Lensbaby that I never would have thought of to create (let alone taken the time to do it----I spent enough time at my computer at my job). I love using them both and will never sell either.<p>

 

--

Richard S.<br>

San Francisco<br>

 

My Photography Website<br>

http://www.lightshadowandtone.com<p>

 

My Flickr River<br>

http://flickriver.com/photos/rich8155/popular-interesting/<p>

 

My Commute Photo Blog<br>

http://shootingonthefly.blogspot.com/<p>