In addition to a Sigma 15mm f/2.8 fisheye, Chin Boon used a Nikon D700 for this Singapore street scene, exposing for 1/200 sec at f/7.1, ISO 200.
Photo: Chin Boon
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The cityscapes in Chin Boon Leng’s Flickr stream offer more than 100 colorful and evocative depictions of urban Southeast Asia. Among this Singapore native’s most successful techniques: framing background subjects within the lines created by bridge trellises, columns, highway overpasses, and, as pictured here, monorail tracks.
His framing technique is made cool with lens selection—a Sigma 15mm f/2.8 fisheye. By placing slightly curved lines at the edges of his frames and then shooting with a fisheye, Chin emphatically bows out the lines, adding a dynamic energy and sweep. His framing elements do more than frame: They exaggerate linear movement, while embracing center-frame subjects in a visually dynamic bear-hug.
Moral? Add a fisheye lens to your optical arsenal. Sure, it can sometimes produce a corny, funhouse- mirror-like distortion. Used with sensitivity, though, the extra sweep that it brings to lines along an image’s edges can contribute more than distortion for distortion’s sake.
See more great examples of a fisheye in action in the gallery to the right.
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