Modified 7-Jul-10
Created 5-Jul-10
37 photos
The photos in this set were shot with a Nikon D700 (a Full Frame 24X36 DSLR) fitted with a Sigma 8mm f3.5 EX-DG Circular Fisheye lens. This lens creates a round image in the center of the cameras image field. It has a 180° field of view and because it does not employ any optical correction everything in the perimeter of the image is very distorted. Some of the photos in this set were shot with other wide angle lens and manipulated with stand alone visual effects and panoramic stitching applications. Also some Photoshop Plug-ins were used as noted in the captions included with each photo.
USING THE SIGMA 8MM LENS:
It's rather challenging to shoot with a lens that makes round images. Thus far it appears that there are four main approaches that can be used to yield pleasing compositions with this type of lens. The first is to find round or curved objects or structures to frame in the viewfinder's round image, the second is to find subjects that look good when their lines are distorted by this type of lens. The third option is to shoot a matching set of photos that can be composited into a ultra-wide panoramic images. Some of the panoramic images in this set were made with a panoramic stitching program called PTGui Pro. PTGui analyzes two or more images (round or rectangular), finds matching control points in the images and then auto aligns the images using these points to create the final panoramic image. The fourth shooting option is to use these round images to create artistic visual effects with Flexify from Flamingpear.com. A WORD OF CAUTION: SuperBlade Pro from Flamingpear DOES NOT work in PS-CS4 as of May 2010… they say it's compatible, but I have it and it crashes CS4. This has been confirmed by others on Mac forums.
USING THE SIGMA 8MM LENS:
It's rather challenging to shoot with a lens that makes round images. Thus far it appears that there are four main approaches that can be used to yield pleasing compositions with this type of lens. The first is to find round or curved objects or structures to frame in the viewfinder's round image, the second is to find subjects that look good when their lines are distorted by this type of lens. The third option is to shoot a matching set of photos that can be composited into a ultra-wide panoramic images. Some of the panoramic images in this set were made with a panoramic stitching program called PTGui Pro. PTGui analyzes two or more images (round or rectangular), finds matching control points in the images and then auto aligns the images using these points to create the final panoramic image. The fourth shooting option is to use these round images to create artistic visual effects with Flexify from Flamingpear.com. A WORD OF CAUTION: SuperBlade Pro from Flamingpear DOES NOT work in PS-CS4 as of May 2010… they say it's compatible, but I have it and it crashes CS4. This has been confirmed by others on Mac forums.
© John Mantzefield Photography