MARIA MUNN'S COLUMN: Getting Creative with a Fisheye Lens

So as promised this week, we are going to look at giving beautiful underwater images a completely different dimension using fisheye lenses. These lenses really help to boost your creative angle. So what exactly is a fisheye lens? Well when a fish looks up at the surface of the water, they will see the whole sky pictured as a finite circle. These lenses were in fact initially used for meteorology to study cloud formation, but for an underwater photographer are an essential piece of kit for maximising on wreck, cave, manta rays and close-focus wide angle techniques with even macro subjects.

As mentioned in previous articles, it is really important to make sure that if you are interested in this kind of photography you buy equipment to which these lenses can be added. Fisheye Japan makes a fisheye lens which screws into the threads of certain Ikelite housings. INON makes a special bayonet mount adaptor whereby users can simply attach the lens with an easy turn, and hot off the press, have just released an Underwater Micro Fisheye Lens which allows the camera’s ordinary zoom function and gives a beautiful 150 degree view angle underwater. As always, check with your specialist dealer for more information.

Macro subjects can be captured sharply right in front of the lens while at the same time capturing the background scene of the same subject. While diving in Alaska, I encountered a huge reef full of basket stars and wanted to portray a photograph of these stunning subjects in a different way. By getting really close to my subject and getting slightly underneath, I’ve captured the essence of the habitat where it is living as well as a diver in the background to give the finished result an extra dimension.

Reef Scene, Alaska - Fuji Finepix F30, INON UFL-165 AD Fisheye Lens, INON D2000 strobe. ISO 200, f5.6, 1/60th sec

Fisheye lenses suffer from “barrel distortion” where subjects at the centre of the frame appear to bulge outwards and straight lines appear extremely curved. However, for subjects such as piers and wrecks, this really adds some ambience to the finished shot as you can see in my photograph of the jetty of Nuweiba, Egypt (below). Believe it or not I was doing a headstand to fit this whole shot in the scene, so always remember to position yourself accordingly to grab the best possible angle.

These lenses also provide something called “Snells Window”. Every time you dive look through your lens and you will see it overhead, a bright circle whilst all the water around it is darker. In the photograph (main pic) of a mangrove scene in Raja Ampat near Kri Island, I was in just 1m of water. By looking above me and allowing as little light possible into the camera by choosing a low ISO, small aperture and super fast shutter speed, it has almost created a perfect circle enhancing the subject in the middle. I used my strobe on a low power to highlight the mangrove roots in front of me to add a real splash of colour to the picture.

Jetty Shot - Fuji Finepix F31D and an INON UFL-165 AD Fisheye Lens using the camera’s underwater mode. ISO 100, f2.8, 1/60th sec

To capture the sky at its best, a nice calm day is essential. It is a fabulous technique for diver or boat shots overhead while on your safety stop or you can even practice this in your local pool. Just be careful when using fisheye lenses for something called “vignetting”. This is where you will see little black edges on the corner of your photographs as the field-of-view is so wide. Zooming through with your camera’s optical zoom will cure this, or you can even use this as a framing effect as in my mangrove shot here.

Finally, when choosing a strobe to use with these lenses, always make sure that you use one giving a wide enough beam of light to light your whole subject when close to avoid shadows in the corners.

There are many different techniques to try out and whichever angle (excuse the pun) you choose to use, you are guaranteed to have a lot of fun as well as bringing out your really unusual creative streak.

I look forward to seeing some of your shots very soon so don’t be shy, why not share your shots with us on Facebook?

Have a lovely week, Maria

For more information on compact cameras and techniques, don’t forget to grab a copy of Maria’s award-winning book “Underwater Photography for Compact Camera Users”, join her on one of her free demo days in London and Leeds, or treat your compact to a fabulous day of learning in a fun and relaxed style in tropical 32 degree indoor pools. Visit www.oceanvisions.co.uk for more information.

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