With their 180° angle of view, curving of straight lines and
bulging of close subjects, it’s easy to imagine that fisheye lenses imitate how
a goldfish sees the world through its bowl.
It also means these lenses are
perfect for injecting a bit of fun into your photography. People look
trowel-nosed and loom large against a backdrop that seems to contain an entire
city, while buildings curve and lean dramatically.
Fisheye photography isn’t
necessarily for the purist ‘no-frills’ photographer obsessed with creating an
accurate record of their subjects, but those who enjoy talking an alternative
look at the world can have a ball.
Fisheye lenses are extreme wideangle optics often with an
average effective focal length of around 15-16mm. This means subjects that are
just a few feet away end up looking tiny in the final picture, so the key to
getting maximum impact is to get close and make the most of the exaggerated
perspective and distortion.
Shooting a portrait from above, for example, will
make the person’s head seem huge, while their body is long and thin,
disappearing off to a tiny pair of feet. Small architectural details such as a
gargoyle on a cathedral can be made huge and menacing on the side of the
receding building.
Because of the strong distortion that bends straight lines,
a fisheye lens isn’t the first choice for straight architectural photography,
but it is a great option for adding some surreal drama to shots of buildings
and cities.
The wide angle of view makes a fisheye lens very tempting
for interior shots when space is cramped, but the warping of straight lines may
mean that the result straight from the camera isn’t quite how you intended.
Fortunately, there are several software packages that are able to correct
fisheye distortion to leave a straighter, but slightly cropped image. This
unravelling can also be useful for landscape or seascape images when you may
not want the horizon to be banana shaped.
Circular and diagonal fisheye lenses
There are essentially two types of fisheye lenses: circular and
diagonal.
Circular lenses project the whole image circle within the confines of
the film or sensor frame, giving the effect of looking through a door spyhole,
with the circular image sitting at the centre of a dark surround. These lenses
have a 180° angle of view in all directions, but some photographers are put off
by the circular images.
Diagonal fisheye lenses produce a larger image circle,
so the photographic subject covers the entire frame, albeit with the
distinctive distortion and exaggerated perspective. These lenses tend to be
more popular, although they only capture the full 180° diagonally across the
frame.
Compact cameras and adapters
Although the most obvious way to create fisheye images
in-camera is to use a fisheye lens, it’s not the only option and there are
quite a few adapters available that effectively turn a standard lens into a
fisheye optic.
There’s a fairly wide selection available on eBay, but the
origin and quality of the adapters is not always clear.
Some of the better ones
are available from Digital Toyshop (www.digitaltoyshop.co.uk or call 0203 355
7908).
The Besel Super Fisheye, for example, retails for £67.99 and can be
mounted on any lens with a 58mm filter thread (or others via an adapter ring).
Naturally, the image quality isn’t quite the same as with a true fisheye lens,
but it’s an easy way of getting a similar effect.
At £246.49 the Raynox DCR-CF
187 PRO 185º Circular Fisheye Conversion Lens seems rather expensive for a
supplementary lens unit. This bulkier converter is mounted on to lenses via its
62mm thread.
The fisheye effect is also starting to appear in some
compact cameras, including the Canon IXUS 300 HS. In addition,
the Universal Fisheye Lens Kit (£55.24 from Digital Toyshop) can be fitted on to
some compact cameras using the tripod bush. This metal adapter widens the field
of view of the lens to enable fisheye image capture.
Lomo devotees can invest in the Lomo Fisheye, a lightweight
plastic-bodied camera with a 170° field of view for £35 from https://uk.shop.lomography.com.
Good for
- Wacky
portraits - Dramatic cityscapes
- Wide
landscapes - Crowd
shots
Bad for
- Weddings
- Straight architectural photography
- Still
life - Product
shots
Shooting
Fisheye lenses are great fun to use, but there are a few
things to watch out for. The wide angle of view means it’s easy to get unwanted
elements, like the peak of your cap or your feet, in the shot, so it’s
essential to have a look around the edges of the frame before pressing the
shutter release.
It also makes shading the lens difficult, and although most
fisheye lenses come with some form of built-in hood they can only be shallow,
which increases the risk of flare from the sun or artificial lights.
Keeping
the lens spotlessly clean reduces the impact of flare, which can introduce hot
spots and lower contrast. However, sometimes it is unavoidable, so embrace it
as part of the magic of fisheye and use it creatively.
Subjects may not always appreciate the fisheye look, but these lenses are fun for parties and social events.
Creating portraits with impact can mean getting closer than
some subjects are prepared for, so it pays to warn them what you are up to.
Most people loosen up and get the general idea once they’ve seen a couple of
shots on the camera’s LCD screen.
As fisheye lenses have a very short focal length they
produce extensive depth of field, which is useful in many circumstances.
Nevertheless, it is still important to place the focus point accurately for
top-quality images.
Chromatic aberration can be an issue, especially with zoom
fisheye lenses and adapters, so it is advisable to shoot in raw format to allow
the coloured fringing to be corrected manually.
