Ideas About How to Use The Nikon 10.5mm Fisheye Lens in Your Own Photography
I'll be honest with you that I'm not a huge expert on all of the inside guts of a lens. However, I can tell you that, after three years of owning this lens I'm still deeply in love. I've created this web article to show examples of how you can use a fisheye lens in your own photography - and provide you a little bit more information about the Nikon 10.5mm lens in particular.
This lens goes for about $800 USD and it only works on the Nikon digital SLR cameras (that said, some of the creative methods I'm about to describe will work on ALL fisheye lenses). This particular 10.5mm fisheye gives the same results on Nikon digital cameras as the 16mm fisheye lens on a film (or full-frame) camera.
The literature says this 10.5mm fisheye is a DX-frame-filling fisheye lens, which means it fills the entire rectangular image with a curvy, distorted image and sees 180 degrees from corner to corner diagonally. It is not a circular image like some of the film fisheye (where you see black on the corners and a full circle).
There is a "straightening tool" in both Nikon Capture and Photoshop.. but why straighten something that looks so absolutely cool!?
Now... on to some examples
This is a self portrait I took for a "dreaming" photo challenge with dpchallenge.com (and won first place!). I decided to see what the lens would do in a flower meadow in Victoria B.C. The camera is INCHES from my face.
I took this picture for a Christmas photo challenge for DPChallenge.com (and won third place!). Every tourist in Victoria takes pictures of the legislature lit up at night... but the fisheye allowed a really original perspective. I liked the extra touch of the moon (which looks much smaller than to the naked eye) in the left corner.
This was a once-in-a-lifetime encounter that I wish I could repeat. Alas, I'm left with just the hilarous memories.
I was walking through a park, taking photos of some flowers with my fisheye when this squirrel ran up to my camera (hoping for some peanuts, I'm sure). I bent down to say hello and started snapping his picture. He became so curious looking into the lens (and seeing the opening and closing of the aperture/shutter) that he put his little paw on the lens and peered inside. Truly hilarious!
I took this shot in Yellowstone National Park. Every photographer in the world has taken pictures of the geysers and other interesting rock formations - but how many are taken with a fisheye. Using the fisheye adds drama to an otherwise kind of boring (and very typical) shot.
This is the same photo as the one in the beginning of my gallery (I just did a bit of different dodging and burning along the edges). I had just finished taking pictures of the breakwater (again the first weekend I had the lens) and walked up to the lighthouse at the end of the point. I pointed the camera upwards to see what would happen. I thought the sky looked so cool and the lighthouse almost looks like a space arm or something.
I took this picture one of the first weeks I owned my new fisheye. The breakwater in Victoria has interesting geometry and I thought it looked cool to make the scene really round - so the people look like they're on top of the world. I've eventually turned this type of image into a "gimmick" in my wedding photography" (see next image) and have honestly attracted so much business I can barely keep up. This type of image is also very impressive to stock photo agencies. It's original, but still simple.
This couple saw my photo of the people walking along the breakwater (with the fisheye) and asked if I could do it for their wedding photos. The results were better than I expected (the clouds added the perfect touch). I now have these images on my wedding website
http://www.christinacraft.com/wedding-photographer) and have drummed up so much business for myself. All of my wedding marketing is based on this image - it's on my business card and I have a huge banner for tradeshows. It's like a calling card for my photography. It wasn't that hard to take... and it seems to set met a little bit apart from the competition (since it's so dramatically different from typical wedding photography).
This is the same couple, only inverted to look more like a wide angle. I couldn't have asked for a better dramatic sky to add a finishing touch.
This couple is actually fairly close to me (only a few feet away) and, by turning the fisheye vertically, allows the pattern in the sky and field to create a neat canvas for the scene.
I've started to take at least one photo of the seated crowd at all the wedding ceremonies I photograph. It provides couples with a view of the "big" event and it looks original in a photo album.
