My adventures in misusing a fisheye lens for street photography in Mumbai.

I foolishly brought my Rokinon fisheye lens to the beach thinking I would shoot some ICM with it. Unfortunately, I don’t have an ND filter for it and the conditions were much too bright to take slow shutter shots without one. I did happen to bring a backup lens with me, fitted with the appropriate ND8 (neutral density) filter that worked just fine. But another strike against me on this outing as I didn’t get anything good despite shooting over 800 Raw files. So on the way out of the beach, I slapped the fisheye lens back on because I knew there was shade up on the road where I’d catch my cab back home.

Then came my third strike, which in retrospect, was a blessing in disguise. I’d forgotten to check my camera settings to set up Super 35 mode. For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, if you’re using an APS-C lens on a full-frame camera, you need to account for the crop factor or you’ll get severe vignetting that’s more like a border or frame effect.

On the road that was my exit route from Aksa Beach, I had a few kids stop by who asked me to take their pictures. Rather than explain to them that it wasn’t such a good idea to stand a proper distance away, I had them come over and look at the results on the back of my camera. I then suggested that they kneel so I could create a cool-looking globe effect. They agreed and I got what I thought was a pretty interesting shot despite the fact that I’d forgotten to turn on Super 35 mode.

This gave me the idea to carry on and misuse the fisheye lens because I happened to like the border effect. So when it was time to go to pick up some prints I had made and framed, I thought I’d spend the time shooting street photography with Super 35 mode turned off. I have to say, I really like the outcomes, especially after converting to black and white.

As I write this, I’m already pondering a shoot using this technique bright and early in the morning. Stayed tuned to my blog for updates here.

If you’ve shot any fisheye photography like this, let me know in the comments.