Fellowship of the fisheye

[cpbjgc]

Thanks! No filter or post processing tricks used for that effect. In this case, it's the result of stopping the lens down to f/16 that produces the star bursts in the lights. The # of aperture blades in your lens dictates how many "star points" you will get... also if you use an odd or even number aperture for the shot. If you use an odd # aperture (small aperture such as f/11 or f/13), you will get a number of star points that equal the number of aperture blades in the lens (e.g. 7 blades = 7 star points). However, if you use an even number aperture (again, small apertures like f/16 or f/22), you will get a number of star points that is double the amount of aperture blades. In this example, I used f/16 and my lens has 7 aperture blades... that's why you see 14 star points.

Thanks for the detailed info! I actually knew most of what you have here, but its good to have this set out - its an easy to achieve effect that most don't know about.

Why I was wondering was that your stars are very sharp - I have gotten the bursts on long exposures as well with the high f-stop, but mine have never been as sharp as what you have here. One thing I didn't know about was the odd/even difference though. I am going to have to check my lenses over now. I think I have one with an odd number of blades, so I will have to try that out.

Thanks again for the detailed answer! It has given me some new info and will be useful to the many folks who lurk on this thread as well.

 

[ColleenG]

Todd, thanks for the explaination on the star points. I knew the smaller the aperature the more star effect you got. My question is, how do you know how many blades a lens has? Is there a standard or is each lens unique. Intersting fact about the odd vs even number.

 

[Groucho]

Todd, thanks for the explaination on the star points. I knew the smaller the aperature the more star effect you got. My question is, how do you know how many blades a lens has? Is there a standard or is each lens unique. Intersting fact about the odd vs even number.

It all depends on the lens. Generally speaking, cheaper lenses have fewer blades (5-6), and higher-line lenses have more (8-9).

For odd vs even, I think you actually do get double the number even with an even number of blades, but they are on top of each other! This can make the starbursts not quite as sharp if the aperture is not lined up perfectly in the lens (which is not uncommon.)

I'm not aware of any modern lenses with more than 9 blades... though they may exist. Older lenses with manual apertures could have more because they were not being stopped down so quickly as auto-aperture lenses. Here's one of my older lenses with 18 beautiful blades.

To keep from going too off-topic, here's another fisheye shot; yet another in my ongoing PeopleMover at night series.


Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover at night by Groucho Dis, on Flickr

 

[ColleenG]

Thanks Groucho!

 

[Todd_H]

For odd vs even, I think you actually do get double the number even with an even number of blades, but they are on top of each other!

^^That actually makes logical sense. I always wondered what the scientific explanation was for "double" the amount of star points for even # aperture.

Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover at night by Groucho Dis, on Flickr

^^Very, very nice. Your exposure is perfect as is your processing of the neon color. I'd say that's pretty much what it looks like when you're there. I have the hardest time processing color with neon, whether it be the reds in Tomorrowland, or the pinks over in EPCOT Future World.

 

[Groucho]

^^That actually makes logical sense. I always wondered what the scientific explanation was for "double" the amount of star points for even # aperture.

I'm not positive but I assume it's the case. I have noticed that the bursts on odd-numbered blade lenses are a little sharper than even-numbered ones, especially ones with 6 blades vs 8. I would assume that's because the blades are sometimes not lined up perfectly 180' from each other.

^^Very, very nice. Your exposure is perfect as is your processing of the neon color. I'd say that's pretty much what it looks like when you're there. I have the hardest time processing color with neon, whether it be the reds in Tomorrowland, or the pinks over in EPCOT Future World.

Thanks! I've usually not had too much trouble with TTA/PeopleMover but I know what you mean. White balance can be a little funky because I don't want the sky too brown, but if you bring it down, the red goes a bit too pink, but you can bring that back with a little extra vibrance/saturation.

For that particular shot, the camera picked 5400/+14 for WB; I ended up with 3379/+26. Looking again, I notice that doing that mostly lost the yellow lighting where the platform meets the supports - you can still see it a little bit in the background areas. The sky isn't quite the color I'd like but "good enough" without doing more heavy processing. Exposure is unchanged, recovery is 22, fill light is 34 (enough to bring out some detail but not enough to give it an unreal HDR-style look), brightness is unchanged, contrast is +29, clarity is +7 (my usual default), vibrance is +22 (my default is +16), and the darks are +26, sharpness is +42.


Here's a lobby shot of Animal Kingdom Lodge Kidani Village. Like many of my night shots, I'd shoot at 80 ISO and underexpose a little bit then post-process to bring back the highs and lows. (Did I mention that the dynamic range of the camera is quite amazing? ) This one has recover of 21 and fill light of 47. I think these settings give something pretty darn close to what the eye sees.


Animal Kingdom Lodge Kidani Village, lobby by Groucho Dis, on Flickr

 

[cpbjgc]

How did this thread fall to page 3?

Well, I have now gone digital on the fisheye front - Rokinon 8mm F3.5. Metering works fine with my camera (though the camera sees the aperture as being 0), but still getting used to the manual aperture and manual focus thing. Very pleased with the colour rendition - very nice! In any event a couple quick snaps from today at our city park.

Hidden bench

Pizza will be a while still...

 

[Groucho]

How did this thread fall to page 3?

Well, I have now gone digital on the fisheye front - Rokinon 8mm F3.5.

Congrats! Welcome to the fishtank!

Speaking of which, this thread needs a bump again...


Fantasmic! fireworks by Groucho Dis, on Flickr

 

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Entering Rocket Tower Plaza by CodyWDWfan, on Flickr


UFO Billboard by CodyWDWfan, on Flickr

 

[Groucho]

This has fallen off page 1 again... time to rectify that with a shot that took me a lot longer than it should have!


Mickey's Country House, entryway by Groucho Dis, on Flickr

 

[Groucho]

So quiet! Is fishing season over?

Here's one that I took way too long shooting. The lighting was also not great, with the barn in shadow. I took a bunch, including of the ride vehicle at most every spot where you can see it up to it inside the barn, but decided that I liked the composition of being able to see the front clearly the best.


The Barnstormer at Goofy's Wiseacre Farm by Groucho Dis, on Flickr

 

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Everything POP by CodyWDWfan, on Flickr

 

[Groucho]

Nice shot Cody! I'd still kicking myself a little that I didn't take more photos when we stayed there in June. I think I took a lobby shot as we checked in, and that was it for the whole trip. Shameful, considering the number of photo ops there.

I saw you mentioned on Flickr about vertical orientation. I've found a number of times where I think it's worked out well, and others where I crop it down a little so it's not quite so tall; that can help if the shot is seeming too tall.

To keep the fishiness going, here's another I just uploaded that is a "portrait".


Haunted Mansion queue by Groucho Dis, on Flickr

 

[Groucho]

The hatchery needs more fish!

Tomorrowland palm trees, PeopleMover, and Space Mountain by Groucho Dis, on Flickr

Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover at night by Groucho Dis, on Flickr

 

[DisneyChristmas]

Bump ---more fisheye shots, please

 

[cpbjgc]

and still processing (plus need to scan a few from the Lomo fisheye). For now, one from Clearwater Beach at the Holiday Inn:

 

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Main Street Electrical Parade in Town Square by CodyWDWfan, on Flickr


Tomorrowland in the round (explore) by CodyWDWfan, on Flickr

 

[ColleenG]

Awesome shots Cody! Love the colors in the MEP.

 

[cpbjgc]

Here are a couple taken with the Lomography Fisheye. Scanned from a print (hope to scan the film soon).

 

[cpbjgc]

Couple more Lomography Fisheye shots from the World scanned with Epson Perfection V500