Shooting with a fisheye lens is a great way to get up close and personal with your subjects. A fish eye lens has the amazing ability to turn regular subjects into interesting and creative works of art with the push of a button. Powerful images such as the stars sparkling on a clear summer night, a bug’s eye view of the world through giant blades of grass and a big city panoramic shot can all become truly inspiring and breathtaking visions. If you are new to the fisheye lens concept, or simply an amateur looking for some additional advice, the following six elements of fisheye photography will start you off on the right foot.
1. Creative Distortion - One of the greatest and most distinguishable elements of photographs taken with a fisheye lens is perceptual distortion. In the field of fisheye photography, distortion can mean a number of things, including subjects that appear somewhat magnified, curved lines that are a far stretch from reflecting reality and warped views that all introduce excellent opportunities for taking creative photographs. Experimenting with creative distortion is the first and foremost tool for learning fisheye photography.
2. Subject Positioning - Any photograph taken with a fisheye lens will feature peripheral elements that appear distorted, while the subject in the center of the photograph will appear sharp and clear. Therefore, one of the most important aspects of fisheye photography is the positioning of your subject or main point of interest. It also helps to recognize that background elements in a fisheye portrait usually become secondary compared to the foreground subjects. Always plan the positioning of your subjects and background elements and experiment with different positions.
3. Large Field of View - One of the major advantages of shooting a portrait with a fisheye lens is the wide angle and 180 degree field of view that allows you to capture groups of people along with numerous subjects, even in a small area. The large field of view also makes it easier to capture action shots filled with fast-moving subjects and creates an almost panoramic view of the surroundings.
4. Straight Lines – Although a fisheye lens is known for its ability to distort straight lines, it is important to note that any straight line in the center of the photograph will remain straight. As a rule of thumb, the further a line is from the X or Y-axis of the lens, the more a fisheye lens will distort or curve the line. The beauty of straight lines in a portrait taken with a fisheye lens is the photographer’s ability to manipulate them through positioning. A photographer can pull straight lines a lot or a little, or not pull them at all. The trick is learning to make the lines work with you, and not against you. Experiment by placing the horizon through the middle of the portrait and “see what develops” (no pun intended).
5. Drawing the Viewer into the Photo – The lines of a photograph taken with a fisheye lens can do one of two things – draw the viewer’s eyes into the photo or draw them out of it. If you are at least an intermediate level photographer, you probably already know that leading your viewer into the portrait yields more interesting results than leading them out, and the same is true for fisheye photography. Once again, the best way to draw a viewer into a photograph with a fisheye lens is by placing the horizon in the center of the portrait, and the results are almost always astonishing.
6. Distortion Balance – Some of the best portraits in fisheye photography have a distortion effect that is in uniform. When the things on the right are bent the same as on the left, and when the things on the top are bent the same as on the bottom, distortion balance is in order. The best way to achieve this distortion balance is to take a photo as if it couldn’t be cropped, so that you can take advantage of the full frame, as opposed to cropping an image and losing the significant distortion created by the lens.
Recommended Fisheye Lens -
Canon’s EF 15mm f/2.8 Fisheye Lens has a 180-degree angle of view and goes well beyond the natural field of vision of a standard camera lens. A wide depth of field, ultra-wide angle and large aperture make the lens perfect for fisheye photography, and a short minimum focusing distance of 8 inches produces tack-sharp focus in close-up shots.
