Fisheye on the M9.

[jaapv]

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[Thomv]

Thanks Jaap. Let's see now.....

This is a most amazing picture, can you tell more bout it?

[exile]

Thanks Thom. Nice of you to say so.

It was taken in the early afternoon on an overcast day looking down some chalk cliffs (Mons Klint, Denmark). 16mm Olympus fisheye from 1970's (I guess), set at about f/11 on M9 ISO160 and 1/180th sec.

The lens was very close to the vegetation at the bottom of the frame. In this instance, you are seeing the full effect of a semi-fisheye lens (no cropping, no distortion "correction" in post-processing). I think it enhances the natural curve of the landscape and gives a slight "vertigo" feeling of being funneled down the cliff towards the sea beneath. I tried to further develop this sensation of channeling down by dodging some brighter lines to run down the slope. I've done this in various places. It's not my best work to be honest. It's more subtle when the line is not continuous but made up of a series of spots that the mind automatically fuses into a leading line.

 

All processing done in Lightroom 3.4.1

Black and white conversion performed with strong preference for orange to lighten the yellow soil in the cliffs and cut through the bluey haze of the overcast day (Red+40, Orange+75, Yellow+75, Green+40) and colour balance set to "as shot" which was probably "cloudy". The duotone effect (split toning) uses sepia in the highlights and touch of grey-blue in the shadows.

Contrast+45, blacks+5, clarity+68, minimal sharpening, but strong vingnetting to remove too much detail in the shrubs distracting the eye away from the long run-out down the cliff face. In Lightroom I also overlayed a 2/3rd stop graduated neutral density filter across the sky in the top third of the frame to balance the overcast sky with the sea. This made the sky/sea into a more continuous single graphic element that pointed downwards like a bright arrow/wedge/traingle in the frame, enhancing the feeling of uncertainty. Balancing the exposure of the sky with the sea also helped to slightly hide the exaggerated curve of the horizon line not passing through the centre spot of the fisheye frame, and thus being bent markedly.