Fun with...Panty Hose???

I've been playing with my camera a lot lately even though our photo-a-day challenge is over. I've still been carrying it around and trying things out. So...I broke out the panty hose the other day. Wha??? What do panty hose have to do with photography you ask?? {hehe!} Let me explain...way back in the day when I had a manual 35mm camera (gasp...remember those?? hehe!) I was very into the idea of filters. I wanted to try them all. Someone...I wish I could remember who...told me to take an old pair of panty hose, cut off a little piece, and put it over the lens and use a rubber band wrapped around it to hold it on. They told me that it was a great way to get a nice soft focus. Well...I gave it a try way back then and took some pictures of my brother on his Harley that I just loved. The panty hose gave the sunlight reflecting a nice star effect and it gave the picture a soft focus. So...I thought I'd break out the old panty hose and give it a try with my digital Rebel!! I wanted to find something that had that same sort of sunlight reflection going on just to see if it would have the same result. So these pictures are for demonstration purposes...not for their fabulous-ness. {hehe!!} I just wanted to show you the effect. So, here's the photo without any panty hose on the lens:

And here's basically the same shot with the panty hose filter:

Imagine that on a nice beachy scene...the star effect and the color would add a vintage feel. I kind of like that!! And then I did a little color adjusting in Photoshop just to show what it would look like if you don't care for the vintage tone:

It still has the star effect but not the color. So what do you think?? Think you'll be grabbing some panty hose and giving it a whirl?? I'll try to get some better examples...preferably with people in the photo. :-) And I did some more playing...this one is super simple and very retro. Remember the old photos that have the burnt edges...vignette type-pictures?? Well...I took a piece of black posterboard (but I'm sure cardstock would work) and poked a hole in the center about the size of a pencil. I put it over my lens and...

It looks like I did that in photoshop but I didn't. That was straight out of the camera. I know it's not an effect for everyone but I was having fun with it! So there are a couple cheap and fun ideas for you to play with the next time you grab your DSLR. Just remember to make sure the panty hose are stretched nice and tight over your lens. (Boy does that sound weird!!) So have fun with it and I'd love to see what kind of pictures you get with your panty hose and cardstock!! Have a great evening and thanks for stopping by!!