Downtown with a 10mm ‘fisheye’ lens.
A lot of ‘street’ photography is about people and their problems, but to me, people are usually a small part of the actual scene and often the least interesting element. I want the Big Picture. And that’s what a fisheye lens delivers: everything happening in the moment, from earth to sky. Among the downtown skyscrapers it adds a great sense of scale.
A fisheye lets me get people in the frame, while seeming to point the camera elsewhere. No one realizes they’re in the shot, and I go unnoticed – just a dumb tourist taking pictures of tall buildings. Distortion? I love it, give me more – the city in my mind isn’t “real”, it’s in a sci-fi novel.
My concept includes sky, so I wait for interesting clouds – or come back another day. But sometimes a bit of sun bounces off the glass and steel and hits an older brick building across the street…
Or, maybe I just stand on a corner and point it straight up…
For these photos I used a TTArtisan 11mm F2.8 manual fisheye lens
Great images! I’ve never really played with a fisheye lens, and this article shows why I should investigate further!
Jim; Nice work, I love the fish eye and especially the black and white processing. I had an 8 mm f1.8 Oly lens but sold it to another lens. I miss the lens, and it’s special software for lens correction features. I can’t afford all the glass I want.
The combination of the fisheye and black and white works really, really well. Me likey!
I have a FE adapter I used to use from time to time shooting wedding receptions. I loaned the lens I used it with to a friend recently. I don’t recall what filter size it fits. I need to take a look and see if it will adapt to anything I’m currently using. I’d be hesitant to invest in a Fisheye lens. Knowing me it would get used once or twice then sit around a gather dust.