JPG

Yep, there is no gadget pictured in this picture. Instead, I would like to point out the distortion from the fisheye that is most obvious in the corners of the frame. It is just barely visible their and for the most part in the sky it just looks like motion of the clouds. Nonetheless It helps to draw the eye towards the bright spot at the center, where the sun is just barely blocked out by that dead tree.

1/320, f/22, ISO 200 with my Nikon d300, which for a digital camera sure takes nice landscape pictures. I'm not saying it's a hasselblad. I'm just saying that I can't see the diffrence. If anything, I make better pictures because I shoot digital and not film. The large capacity and instant gratification allows me to find those few extra shots when the moment is really poppin'.

I have one other photograph here on JPG taken within a minute of this one and while i'm on my soap box I would like to point out the differences between the two. In the other photo, titled "A Traditional Landscape Photograph", the hight difference between the live aspens and the dead aspens is very realistically portrayed.

In this photo, the subject IS the Aspen, so the contrast between life and death develops from a different perspective. With the red aspen taking up a solid third of the vertical foreground, it stands out from the black lines at its left in a more graphic manner than in the other picture.

Conversely, the other picture is more balanced. It has a rule of thirds bright spot, and an exposure that favors the yellows.

They are two very different photographs, both portraying the same thing from different directions (of thought).


Author's Note: According to the manufacturer, this lens is not a true "fisheye" lens, because it does not have the full 180 degree field of view. Instead the field of view at 11mm tops out at about 165 degrees, which on 35mm film has a 16mm lens equivalent. I call it my "fisheye lens" because it has the traditional bulging element on the front that looks like a fish's eye. In conclusion, this lens is great for wide angle landscape photography because of it's excessive field of view while still minimizing the linear distortion prevalent in all "true" fisheyes, allowing for a wide field of capture while retaining a natural, realistic look to the photograph.

In the How To take a Good Picture photo essay.