Ultra-ultra Wide Fun!

Nikon D700, Sigma 12-24mm F4.5-5.6 EX DG HSM

I rented this lens for an architectural shoot to see what an ultra-ultra-wide angle lens would do for me in tight quarters. Suffice it to say it's a lot of fun to shoot with, but must be used extraordinarily carefully as with such an extreme view (122 degrees along the horizontal), distortion pops into the image instantaneously. Of course, if you're having fun with it, the distortion is another matter entirely. Many of these shots were taken literally inches away from objects (like the graffiti and mailbox shots), but it looks like you're several feet away. Crazy wide.

(note: this is a full-frame lens; the equivalent zoom for a cropped sensor dSLR would be about 8-16 mm).

Supposed to be shooting another home tomorrow. I have managed to get my sweaty little hands on a Nikon D3x, a Nikkor 24mm 1:3.5 PC-E and a Nikkor 45mm 1:2.8 PC-E (both are tilt-shift/perspective control lenses) for the shoot... so along with my own equipment I'll be out and about for the day with camera equipment worth enough to buy a new car. It's enough to make a guy jumpy, but also will be very fun to shoot with some of the best photographic equipment money can buy. Will be a relief when it's all back with its rightful owner later the same day! :)

Learn more about what tilt-shift lenses do with this great article.

Something new...

Tomorrow afternoon I'm trying something new - I've done a bit of architectural stuff before (for my brother) but if this pans out will be taking some shoots for some pretty fancy homes. I did a little practise in my own little house - haven't had a chance to get through all the images, but here's a couple in the meantime.

I am absorbing everything I can regarding the technical issues surrounding architectural photography. Chief amongst them is controlling lens distortion. There are three basic types of lens distortion: barrel, pincushion, and mustache (a combination of barrel and distortion). At wide angles, barrel distortion is prominent; with telephoto, pincushion comes into play. More information can be found here.

Luckily I ran across a program/Photoshop plugin which can correct for any and all types of distortion - it has a library of customized data for pretty much any camera lens you could own, so it reads the lens used and automatically corrects the image = easy-peasy. The best part? It's $25. It's called PTLens and you can check it out here.

The program can run standalone (if you don't have Photoshop) or can be run as a plugin in Photoshop and be used as part of the workflow. Check it out!

Roemer-Foster Update, October 4 (2 of 2)

Editing & processing is done. As soon as I get Rhonda's disc in the mail, it's off to the printers and then into the album for delivery. Almost there!

Roemer-Foster Update, October 4 (1 of 2)