Crystal Ball Lens Refraction Photography

Crystal Ball Lens Refraction Photography

    I recommend experimenting with a Refractique crystal ball to bring a new creative look to your photography.  Refraction happens when light passes through crystal or water and the light is bent creating distortion.  When photographing through a crystal ball the image will become inverted.  I could have flipped the refracted image below in Photoshop, but I kinda of like it upside to be unique. 

    I recently took the crystal ball to a local botanical garden and was impressed with the cool images I created.   The refraction ball gave me a new focus and I tried new angles.  For some of them I got down really low on the ground. 

    I used my hand to hold the Lensball in some of the images and for others I found surfaces to set the crystal ball on such as rocks.  The lens is like a magnifying glass so if you hold it to long in the bright sun it will start to get hot on your hand, so shoot fast.

   Here’s an image I created of the Bok Towers in Lake Wales, Florida. It’s cool to see the tower reflected into the crystal ball.  I used Bokeh to blur out the real tower, so your eye can focus on the inverted reflection of Bok Towers.  I experimented with several different lenses while testing the crystal ball, and I personally like using the Nikon 24-120mm N lens to show more of the scene.  In additiona, it was easy to shoot with the camera in one hand and the crystal ball in the other.  I think it would be better to use a tripod when using a macro or telephoto lens.  I look forward to experimenting more with my new Refractique crystal ball and encourage you to try some refraction photos too.