John Crowe

It is real!  I had to remove some minor flare marks and other than using neutral densiity filters in Adobe Camera Raw, and saturation, colour balance, sharpness and dodge/burning in Photoshop, it is as shot.

As you can see from the sunburst the Nikon 8mm f2.8 has amazing flare control, and it is also quite sharp and contrasty.

I also cropped out the very thin blue halo around the perimeter that seems typical of all circular fisheye lenses.  It means only losing a few pixels around the edge.  Light also reflects onto the sensor outside the image area so I also place the circular image onto a black or white background depending on the subject.

I took many shots of this scene but when the sun peeked over the

horizon it lit up the foreground perfectly. Let me know what you think.

I like to return to this tree every fall. I think I caught some nice early

light this time around.

In 25 years I have never forgotten where I have taken a photograph, until

now. I will have to take some time to figure out where I took this.

I would have taken this image 20 years ago but I did not have the

photographic ability then to remove the sculpture that is in the

background.

Ryan, what do you think of this sort of idea?  I hope you do not mind my posting.  I used a rough image that I had which needs a lot of photoshopping itself.  Just an idea.

Nicely done.  I have done some reading on this technique but I have not spent any time on it.  From your portfolio you must be technically minded and your are obviously creative.

I would love to see a progression of this sort of image.  I assume that the series of images required were taken from a central open space.  If this is correct I would love to see a photo taken from the centre of this space with a circular fisheye lens pointing straight up with a clear or partly cloudy sky, like you have here.  Then place that image, I think it would need to be mirrored to match the image above, and sized to fit, in the centre of this one.  You would end up with a donut shape with buildings and trees facing inwards with the sky in the centre, as well.  I think the results would be very cool and while it may be a complicated composition it would remove the blandness of the central part of this image.

I would photoshop the light pole, or whatever it is, out of the bottom of the image. 

I am reasonably happy with the results but I will experiment with different times of year, times of day to see if I can get more light low down in this courtyard.  Otherwise, I'd need several hundred flash bursts!

I will also experiment with more post exposure control.

Let me know what you think.

I have been wanting to make this image for over 20 years. I just got a

circular fisheye and had to try it. I lay flat on my back on the pavement

and used my head and face as the tripod. Taken just after sunrise on a

quiet Sunday morning.