Day: June 12, 2011

Sometimes you need a unique lens like the Fish-Eye.

by Stanley LearyPhotography

Waco YMF Biplane

Years ago, I found myself in some pretty small areas. While photographing research labs, I was photographing what felt like the inside of a closet. So finally, I bought a fish eye 16mm Nikon f/2.8 lens. It gives me a 180-degree view.

Example of using the wide angle to capture research in a very tight space.
Looking closely, you can see the photo’s glass wall to my far left. I am less than a foot from the subject when making this photo. Thank goodness for the super wide-angle lens.
Nikon 16mm ƒ/2.8

This past weekend, it came in handy to help capture what it was like to ride in a biplane for my wife and me.

Here is Dorie and me before our flight over to Atlanta.

Any standard wide-angle lens would give me a portrait at best and not capture the environment. So if you have very little space, this lens will help you capture the small room.

In a tiny cockpit, the 16mm lens helps get both of us into the photo.

Sometimes you have a big sky and want to capture the things close to the camera and the expanse around it. Here shooting out of the cockpit, I caught the feeling I had being in the cockpit and looking out. What did I want the photo to do for you–I wanted you to get an excellent feel for flying. How did I do?

When photographing with a wing below you is brutal if doing aerial photography, but to show where you are, the 16mm captures the view from the cockpit.
The 16mm gives you a 180-degree view of the front of the plane.

When you are in tight spaces like a room the size of a closet, the 16mm helps you get wide enough. What surprised me is how often, in the big open spaces, the 16mm can work and give you a unique and intimate view.

What are some ways you have used a fish eye lens? Let me hear from you in the comments below.