I’m on baby-sitting duties – strictly speaking baby-biking duties.
This will be the longest time Sarah’s spent away from Bryn. Bibra Lake is a haven for ducks and swans, and families with small children. I’m also learning a new lens that I’ve bought for the upcoming Canning Stock Route trip, having been inspired by Aga and Mateusz. The Rokinon 7.5mm f/3.5 MFT lens is a compact and fully manual alternative to the Panasonic 8mm which is twice the price and heavier to boot. The nature of fish-eye lenses is that non-manual focus is only needed if your subject is very close to hand. This makes the lens an ideal landscape option.
Some initial forays, with an illustration of the de-fishing process (and it’s limitations)
cropped along the bottom – the level and horizontal horizon belies the distortion I’ve avoided
- A similar shot, but not cropped – so showing the full fish-eye experience. The first attempt had my feet in it; illustrating a common oversight with the 180 degree field of view.
It’s possible to ‘de-fish’ the shot using various editing software. Here, the result from the ‘Sigma 8mm Fish-eye lens’ lens correction built into Adobe Lightroom (5, but also earlier versions). I feel that cropping works better than ‘lens correction’ here.
It’s possible to walk/cycle/run/amble all the way round the lake. At a couple of points there are bird-watching ‘hides’
The end of the road – cropping (again) makes best use of the field of view in landscape ‘mode’
Turning the camera on myself with this lens proves an easy way to ‘get it all in shot’. Bryn loves being snuggled up as I bike-amble the time away. Nowhere in particular to go and nothing to do. An uncommon luxury, and much relished.
Tom Walwyn Photography - exploration in images 