Remember the fish eye lens?
That amazing piece of glass which gives us a whole new 180 degree perspective on reality.
I was lent one recently by a friend (Nikon AF 16mm F2.8D) when I went on a short trip to Melbourne. I had not used one before and had never really been particularly impressed by the majority of fisheye images I had seen. I think the problem for me was that the curved distortion effect so obvious in the images always seemed to dominate at the expense of the subject matter.
Now that I have used one for a few days I must say that my feelings about the results created are still much the same but using it was definitely a lot of fun. Each time I looked through the viewfinder it was an interesting experience to see just how much of the scene in front of me was included in the frame and the weird distortions that were created by the lens. Just by moving the camera angle slightly you could dramatically alter the composition and distortion in the frame.
I returned the lens when I got back from Melbourne and, while it was a novel experience, I had no real desire to get one of my own. For me it is a very specialised piece of equipment with limited practical uses but if you ever have the chance, I would highly recommend you try one for yourself. Like me I think you will have a lot of fun with it.
Shown below are some of the pictures I took on my trip to Melbourne with the lens…
Fuel Tank, Williamstown, Melbourne
Palms, St Kilda, Melbourne
Busker, Bourke Street Mall, Melbourne
Spooky Tree, Botanical Gardens, Melbourne
If you want to see more examples of this type of photography try an image search for 'fisheye lens photo'. You can also have a look at the following url's…
http://digital-photography-school.com/15-fun-fabulous-fisheye-photos
http://www.flickr.com/groups/top-20-fisheye/pool/