There are so many ways to portray the world as photographers who inhabit it, but when choosing a goal to do so, the options are not so varied, from telephoto objatives to capture what is far away, to angles to represent large ones. parts of reality, there aren’t as many options available to capture the reality around you.
But not all lenses capture reality the way they do, there is one type of lens that distorts it: the fish eye.
- Fisheye lenses break the norm and the photographs taken with them surprise and captivate the viewer.
- Transporting him to a world where nothing is what it seems.
In today’s article, you’ll learn everything you need to know about this particular type of lens so you can go out and portray reality like never before.
A fisheye lens is an extremely angular lens, so much so that it will allow you to cover a 180 degree viewing angle, which means that if you wear any of these lenses, almost nothing will come out of the frame in your photos. It is possible thanks to its minimal focal length: between 8 and 16 mm and the shape of its front lens.
But is that a lot of 180-degree vision? If you consider that the human eye has a field of view of about 180 degrees, the answer is yes, in fact, it will be impossible to get a lens for your camera that exceeds those viewing angles, so photographs taken from a wide angle are so special and eye-catching.
The main feature of this type of lens is the distortion that occurs throughout the scene: straight lines will curve and such distortion will increase as they move away from the center of the image, this distortion is the one that differentiates them from a super wide angle, since, since, since it is not “fisheye”, do not distort the lines too much.
Focal distance, viewing angle, depth of field are some of the concepts you’ll need to know to fully understand the article in its entirety, so if you have no idea what they mean, I recommend reading the following articles: What do you need to know about the focal length of your lens?How to capture splendid compositions thanks to the focal length of your lens ?.
If you know them or have already read them, get ready to enter the world of fisheye targets.
benefit
Disadvantages
Although such lenses can be used in almost any situation, their use will not be optimal at all. That’s why I can tell you that its use is of a rather “creative” type, that is, it will depend on your creative ability.
So when is it convenient to use it?
As with wide-angle lenses, ‘Fisheye’ maximizes their potential in two types of photography: interiors and landscapes, after all, a fisheye lens is nothing more than an extreme wide angle that has no internal elements (glass) to compensate for. distortions.
1- Architecture, interiors and exteriors: the viewing angle of these lenses will allow you to capture almost all of a room in a single shot Have you tried photographing an environment?If he did it without a wide-angle lens or fisheye, much of that certainly didn’t in his picture. It is in such situations that it is necessary that, in a single photograph, an entire interior is captured, where fisheye lenses take on importance over the rest.
Two? Landscapes: In this particular type of photography, using a fisheye can also give you a lot of satisfaction, as long as you manage to control the distortions that will be generated, keep in mind that any line, even that of the horizon, will be distorted. as it approaches the edges of the framing. Enjoy all the elements of the scene, such as trees, rivers, horizon, geometric patterns, etc. , to attract the viewer’s attention. In landscape photography, the fisheye effect will not be as noticeable as if you were using it in situations where the elements are closer to the foreground.
While these situations I just mentioned are the best for using a fisheye lens, that doesn’t mean you just have to place it on your camera and take pictures to get amazing photos given the great distortion they generate, you should choose the right one. position for the best results.
It also doesn’t mean that you can’t use it in other situations, remember that the limit of a goal is given by your ability to push it to the limit of the hand of your creativity, the luck of your photos is always in your hands.
This type of lens, although not essential in any photographer’s backpack, is a great option to allow you to take stunning photos, the question is: are they available for all cameras ?, are they very expensive?
Have I prepared a list of 10 goals? Fish eye? So keep in mind
The list I just showed you is to give you an idea of the price range and variety of lenses available for major brands, however, there are many goals I haven’t listed that certainly deserve to be taken into account. they are converters that, although they do not allow you to achieve the sharpness that you can achieve with a autonomous objective, will allow you to take photographs with fisheye effect.
Do you want to know which of the fisheye lenses you just saw I recommend?Check out the following article and you will know :?Second-rate ratings?No?13 main goals !?.
Below are many examples of the tips I just told you to make the most of your fisheye lens.
Fisheye lenses are really difficult to handle, or rather easy to use but not easy to get the best results. Thanks to its exaggerated viewing angle, infinite depth of field and the distortions they generate, successfully composing a photograph will be a challenge.
Anyway, don’t worry, with a little care and reading the following tricks and tips, you won’t have any problem doing it.
1. Work your background: remember that the depth of field of such lenses is very important, that is, almost all the elements present in the scene, either in close-ups or in the farthest shots, will be sharp. That’s why you can’t stop working with the backgrounds of each of your photos, let alone take them with a wide angle.
2. Check all the elements of the frame: having such a viewing angle, you may not take your time to review everything before shooting, you may be able to include elements you wouldn’t have wanted beforehand or one that if you wanted it, ended up cut or too distorted (too close to the edges). It’s easy for your feet or part of the tripod to jump, for example, if you don’t.
3. The center minimizes distortion: as I mentioned above, if you want to minimize the fisheye effect on a given subject, the best way to do this is to approach it and take the photo from a slightly high angle. The subject will be placed as far away as possible in the center of the frame, minimizing foreground distortion.
4. Play with the lines: Encourage yourself to work on the lines of the scene to accentuate the distortion while guiding the viewer’s gaze throughout your photos. The further they are from the center, the more the lines stretch. bend and the closer they are to the center, the less they are.
5. Use it in portraits: although I do not recommend making very formal portraits with such lenses, feel free to do so in any other situation where you want to represent one of your models, the results you will get will be surprising and very strange.
6. Change perspective: Shooting with another type of lens can be a bit boring, but if you place a fisheye lens in front of your camera, the results will surprise you. Buildings will close in front of the viewer, like trees. and everything you put in front of them or rather on top of them.
7. Take care of the horizon: unless you want to get a completely distorted landscape, I recommend, if you include the horizon (or horizontal midline) in your photos, place it on the midline of the frame. , the horizon will come out straight while everything up or down won’t.
8. Inside, feel free: the results you can get if you use a fisheye lens to take pictures indoors will be spectacular. Given the proximity of all the elements to the camera, the effect that gives this lens its name will be improved, so all you have to do is choose a good location and be able to take stunning photos.
If an image is worth a thousand words, a video can save me thousands, so I leave you a video below so that you can enjoy, with your own eyes, what video recording looks like when using a fisheye lens (in this case, a 15mm focal length Nikkor lens):
The range of possibilities that can be achieved through a fisheye lens is very varied, you just need to know how to work with it.
What are you waiting for to surprise everyone with your fisheye?