Fisheye Flowers

[Andrew McLachlan]

While out and about today made sure to take along my newest tool - the Sigma 15mm Fisheye. I came across this lovely patch of Rudbeckia blossoms at the base of a small hill and played around with a few horizontal and vertical versions.

Nikon D800
Sigma 15mm f2.8 EX DG Fisheye lens
ISO 400
f11 @ 1/640 sec.
Hand-held

Look forward to comments.

PS. I will be away for the next 9 days playing around with this lens...so hopefully I will have lots of new fisheye landscapes to share upon my return.

[Don Railton]

Hi Andrew, and let's hope on your return they are all as cool as this..! I Especially like the sky, have no suggestions..

[Don Railton]

Oops, Changed my mind. So, is it level? Looks like it might need a slight ccw rotation but on the iPad and difficult to check, especially with my iPad driving skills. Maybe that tree on the LH border horizon is fooling me?

[Diane Miller]

wonderful colors! Nice to be able to get so close to the FG flowers, to make them prominent, and they fall off in size in a very pleasing manner. I'll bet you had trouble keeping your feet out of the picture!

It does feel a bit tilted to me, also, but not a big deal with an image like this.

[David Stephens]

I love my 15mm f/2.8 fisheye and use it a lot. If that were mine, I'd try de-fishing it and cropping it with a 2:1 aspect ratio and show nothing but flowers.

To get to know it, try it with and without de-fishing. I like it for shots like this, sunburst shots (shooting into the sun with small aperture) and BIG SKY shots of interesting clouds, storms approaching, etc.

Your image here looks a little overly saturated to me.

[Neil Burton]

Cannot say it is not colourful :o Not sure about fisheye shots, would love to see it "normal".

[David Stephens]

Andrew, try getting even closer next time and then stop down to f/16 or f/22. Here I'm a few inches from the "featured" flower and at f/22:

Sea of Flowers by dcstep, on Flickr

I find that when I challenge my old concept of "close" my fish-eye yields special results.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Love that perspective, Andrew.
Did you take any in softer light?

[Andrew McLachlan]

Thanks so much for the comments and suggestions folks. They are much appreciated.

Morkel...I was unable to hang around for softer light on this day but am hoping to head back in a week or two when I will have more time.