Portland, OR – It’s time to spruce up the Lensbaby (www.lensbaby.com) Creative Aperture Kit, and they’re calling on their community to come up with some new designs. Lensbaby is offering the ultimate prize- to have the winner’s photo showcased on the product packaging and their design produced and added to the new kit. Starting today, photographers can submit two of their best images taken with a Lensbaby lens and a homemade aperture disk for a chance to win.Lensbaby Creative Aperture Disks allow users to custom cut shapes onto blank aperture disks in order to add unique one-of-a-kind effects to their photos. These disks allow specular highlights (bright points of light in a photo- like street lights or bright sunlight on a lake) in the out of focus area of a photo to take on the shape of the hole on the aperture disk. By using an xacto knife or craft store hole punch, photographers can create a multitude of shapes. Here is a video by Lensbaby president Craig Strong on how to create your own (click here) along with a montage of creative aperture images (click here). A gallery of sample photos can be found here. The aperture disks are compatible with the Muse, Composer, Control Freak, Lensbaby 2.0 and Lensbaby 3G lenses and with the Double Glass, Single Glass, Plastic and Soft Focus Optics.“Our customers have outgrown the shaped aperture disks we created in our first starter kit, so we decided it was time for an update,” said Lensbaby President and Co-Founder Craig Strong. “Lensbaby users are highly imaginative and resourceful, so who better to turn to when looking for new shapes to outfit the next generation of creative aperture disks? We can’t wait to see what they come up with!”Creative Aperture Kit Contest Prizes Include:1 Grand Prize Winner- * Photo will be featured on the product packaging with credit to the photographer * Photo will be framed by Plywerk (plywerk.com) * Aperture design will be produced and included in the new kit * Winner will receive one of the new creative aperture kitsUp to 4 Runner-up Winners- * Aperture design will be produced and included in the new kit * Names will be added to the product packaging * All winners will receive one of the new creative aperture kitsSubmission Guidelines: * Keep it simple! The simpler the design, the more likely that they’ll be able to mass produce it directly from your design with minimal tweaks. * Photos submitted must be taken with a Lensbaby lens and a home-made creative aperture disk. * Photographers can submit two images for consideration via www.lensbaby.com/creativeapscontest. * The photo should display a clear example of the creative aperture disk. * Along with any photo submitted, photographers must e-mail a clear photo or illustration of the aperture to creativeaps@lensbaby.com in order for their design to be considered as a possible winner. * Size and tolerance specifications are important – please read them carefully in the full submissions rules (here). * Do not submit images containing full nudity or graphic sexuality. * Electronic submissions will be accepted until June 11th, 2010. * The winning images will be announced June 18th, 2010.Lensbaby Creative Aperture Kits are available on www.lensbaby.com for $9.95 MSRP or from select specialty photo stores nationwide. For more information, visit www.lensbaby.com/creativeapscontest or contact PR Representative Jessica Darrican at jessica@maxborgesagency.com.The above is an unedited press release provided by Lensbaby.
