Nothing very "natural" about a fisheye lense. Pretend you're looking through a pipe. Nikon Coolpix 950. How else can you get into fisheye lenses for $189?

-- Mike Green (greenplay@hotmail.com), April 26, 2000

Answers

This photo is interesting Mike. It looks like I'm looking at one of those security mirrors used in convenience stores. I would like to see a stronger center of attention, however. Also, the composition doesn't work for me because the elements don't balance in the frame--It looks as though the frame is about to roll towards the right. To be fair, however, I think it is very difficult (impossible for me, so far) to create a balanced composition in a round frame. The one outstanding example that comes to mind is The Alba Madonna of Raphael. Somehow (genius??) he manages perfection in a round format. If any art theory people can tell me how this works so well, I'm all ears. I'd be interested to see more. And you're right, $189 is a great price to be able to do this.

-- Mark Meyer (mameyer@xsite.net), April 26, 2000.

Great exposure, and an interesting effect, but not as interesting a photo due to the lack of foreground subject and/or cloud detail. Good job keeping feet and/or tripod out of the frame, I must say, and for $189, definitely worth the flexibility of a full-frame fisheye accessory. I'd be interested to hear whether the accessory works with a polarizer or not.

-- Christian Deichert (torgophile@aol.com), April 27, 2000.

I think if the clouds on the left stood out more behind the plams it would balance the composition a bit more. Round compositions are brutal to compose and not much fun to frame either!

Now its time for the art school flash-back. "The Alba Madonna" was sucessful for a variety of reasons. One reason is that it wasn't shot with a fish-eye lens! Raphael kept the composition solid by anchoring the forground elements with a strong horizon line. He furthur anhored those elements by having John the Baptist (the little fellow with the "fur coat") hit the edge of the frame, and on the opposite side anchoring Mary with a fairly strong shadow. Poorly done circular compositions want to make your eyes spin in circles, these elements counteract that tendency.

To keep the painting dramatic and lively, Raphael used lots of diagonal movements to keep your eyes moving. The only thing that is vertical is the Madonna's torso which is dead center, all the other elements of the painting are diagonal, some interconnect to furthur carry your eye through the composition (like her arm and leg). This energizes the painting.

Blur your eyes a little and look again at the painting and notice how many of the elements can be broken into triangles, some inter connecting, some adjacent. Many painters try to break compositions into triangular units to keep them interesting and lively. Few do it like Raphael!

-- Matt Bohan (bohan@pilot.msu.edu), April 27, 2000.