Cinematography Technique: Lens Whacking

    Today I was watching some youtube videos on cinematography techniques and came across one called "lens whacking." This is when you film with your lens detached from the camera and move the lens back and forth causing a blur and lighting affect. I thought this was an interesting idea and I had seen this look in movies before so I decide to take my camera into the yard and try it out on my own.
   With the little knowledge about the technique I have, I thought it went okay. I found that moving the lens in certain directions created different affects. Trying this actually lead to me better understanding how a lens works. The one thing I did have a little issue with was keeping it steady. Even when I wasn't moving the camera, the movement of the lens caused it to be shaky at times, although I could fix this in postprocessing. Also depending on the way I moved the lens the shot would be covered slightly by the side of the lens. You can see that happening in the last two shots of the short film I made, showing my attempt at lens whacking. One other slight issue I had was getting the focus I wanted but that will come with practice. I plan to use this technique more often and make more films like this one, showing  new techniques that I have learned about cinematography and photography.

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