Picture This

Picture This!
It’s What’s Up Front That Counts: Lens Effects—Super Wide, Fisheye, Distortion, Super Depth Of Field

Shutterbug Staff | Nov 1, 2006

Our Picture This! assignment this month was "It's What's Up Front That Counts," the implication being that the lens, lens attachments, and of course where the lens is pointed has a profound influence upon any image. Although you could crop into an image made with a 24mm lens to gain the same perspective as one shot with a 50mm, there's the context of the coverage that makes it all look so different. Readers responded with a lots of images that ranged from super wide to super close with lens attachments, using both incredibly deep and extremely shallow depth of field. Overall, each and every one we saw was made with an awareness that content and context can add up for powerful imagery.

Frog's Eye View

Jim Bitten used a shallow depth of field and a Sigma 50mm f/2.8 macro lens on his Konica Minolta 5D to get up close and personal with this frog caught by his children.
© 2006, Jim Bitten, All Rights Reserved

Still And Motion

This selective plane of focus was created by Howe Sim using a Nikon D100 and a Lensbaby 2.0.
© 2006, Howe Sim, All Rights Reserved

Beach Volleyball

Ball, net, player, and action all work great in this shot by Frank Goroszko. He worked with a Nikon F100 and Tamron 24-70mm lens with a Pro-Optic 0.5 Wide Angle Converter. He photographed on Fujifilm's Superia 400 with an exposure of f/11 at 1/1000 sec.
© 2006, Frank Goroszko, All Rights Reserved

Distortion

Looking through a glass with optical glass, Amy VandenBerg made this shot with a Nikon D70s and Nikkor 18-70mm lens; exposure was f/4.5 at 1/4 sec.
© 2006, Amy VandenBerg, All Rights Reserved

Droplet

Kevin Hanley made this colorful and fascinating shot with a Nikon D70 and Nikkor 80-400mm VR lens with a Kenko extension tube. To freeze the drop he used a Nikon SB-800 Speedlight on an extension cord and an SB-600 Speedlight in Remote mode.
© 2006, Kevin Hanley, All Rights Reserved

Open Window, Insert Snout

Wrote Aaron Mahler, "An overly curious bovine at Virginia Safari Park. This guy was incredibly gentle, curious, and more than a bit slobbery as he snuffled around for snacks on our drive through the park." Mahler worked with a Canon EOS 20D and Sigma 8mm fisheye lens. Exposure was f/9 at 1/200 sec.
© 2006, Aaron Mahler, All Rights Reserved

Deep, Deep Depth Of Field

Kathryn Salmon caught sharpness near to far that encompassed the roses and the Mission Santa Barbara in the background. She worked with a Canon EOS 30D and Canon 17-85mm IS lens and used an f/22 aperture.
© 2006, Kathryn Salmon, All Rights Reserved

Shallow, Shallow Depth Of Field

Linda Hoopes caught these droplets of water on a spiderweb, made distinct by using a Nikon D70 and 18-70mm lens with +1 and +4 close-up filters. Exposure was f/4.5 at 1/250 sec, with on-camera flash.
© 2006, Linda Hoopes, All Rights Reserved

Tulip Wide View

This flowing image of tulips in a glass vase was made by Ray Ross with a Nikon N50 camera and Tamron 28-80mm lens with a Quantaray +3 close-up lens. He exposed on Kodak's 400 Max film.
© 2006, Ray Ross, All Rights Reserved

Three Exposures

Kurt A. Pare' gave us a new twist on the assignment by combining three exposures made through his Leica R9 and Leica VARIO-ELMAR 28-70mm lens. He triple exposed on Kodak's Ektachrome E100VS film using three different focal length settings.
© 2006, Kurt A. Pare', All Rights Reserved