"Ceiling Masterpiece"

"Ceiling Masterpiece"
© David A. Ziser

I captured this image at a wedding I photographed a few years ago. It was taken from the balcony at the historic Plum Street Temple in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio. It is always a true joy to photograph in this beautiful location.

I love that the image literally shows the interior from front to back, accenting the magnificent detail of the vast ceiling. Some folks may have an issue with the fisheye effect but I don’t.  I really like what the Fisheye brings to these spectacular interiors.  It’s a sense of perspective not seen very often which, I believe, adds interest to the client’s finished album. BTW, I slightly increased the shadow detail and saturation in Photoshop.

Camera specs: Canon 40D fitted with Sigma's 8mm fisheye lens, F5.0 @ 1/50 second, ISO 1600 handheld.  Enjoy! --David

It's A Round, Round World - Sigma 4.5mm Circular Fisheye

You are probably not hearing it here first because I found references to it all over the Internet, but here is the story about Sigma's just introduced 4.5mm Circular Fisheye over at DPreview. I wanted to chime in about Circular Fisheye Lens.

Back in my Hasselblad days, I owned their 30mm Fisheye lens - about a $6000 pop! I loved that lens for a different wedding day perspective. No one else in my area had one, so I was producing some really cool images that perspective clients weren't seeing and no one else could touch. As I write this, I am looking at a 30x30 print in my studio that catches my client's attention every time they visit.

It was also great for some cool reception candids as well. I had owned Sigma'' 8mm Fisheye for my early Nikon D1X, and after switching to Canon, picked up one for it too. Now Sigma is the first lens manufacturer to introduce the circular Fisheye for the digital half frame cameras. No price has been set yet, but I did find a post in one of the forums that suggests it will be about $1000.

I have found that Sigma's price drops a bit after the lens has been out a while. I purchased my Fisheye for my Canon at about $100 less than the same perspective lens for the Nikon. But why wait?? It's always the difference that makes the difference - so you might want to check it out. I'll plan to do a "Technique Tuesday" piece on Fisheye images down the road.

"Midnight Revelers"

© David A. Ziser

This is a shot from the past weekend's wedding. It was taken near the end of the evening after most of the guests departed. I wanted to create some long, strong shadows with the last few people on the dance floor. I had my assistant head to the other side of the room and hide behind the revelers. I was firing my remote controlled Quantum T5d at 1/4 power which created the shadows I wanted. I used a Sigma 8mm Fisheye lens to enhance the shadows and unusual room features, raised the ISO to 1600 on my Canon 40D, slowed the exposure to 1/20 second at F4.0 for the final image. Enjoy! --David