[PentAdam]

I need some pointers on using a fisheye:

• Firstly should it be mostly used for abstract/creative shots, or can it be considered for scenes such as the one below?
• Are there any other general rules to follow when using these lenses?

Any other comments will also be appreciated.

Also attached another shot of the same scene for a good measure (comments also welcomed)

Cheers.

Attached Images

   

[SebastianP]

pfff is depresing! Some animals put some real animals to fight. Just look at the poor roosters!

[causey]

pfff is depresing! Some animals put some real animals to fight. Just look at the poor roosters!

+1 (Ma bucur ca o spune un roman.)

[PentAdam]

Sometimes photos just like reality may not be pleasant, it is often the case do we choose to look the other way or do something about... stop what is going on, or take a photograph, from the former a profession of photojournalism has evolved I believe.

I have to say that from an animal walfare perspective this is not a nice photo, but nor are photos of many other things or events such as: battery hans in England, force feeding geese in France so that people can enjoy Pâté de foie gras, clearing thousnads of hectares of amazon jungle in Brazil to make way for soya bean plantations, hundreds of homeless people in New York's or LA's parks, and not even mentioning the genocide in Africa, or what is happening in the middle east.

We can all take photos of our pet dog and discuss the rendering of the bokeh, but let's face it, it can hardly be classed as original.

And if Pentexian community is so humane, why is it that we discuss potential quality issues of lenses made in Vietnam, yet hardly mention the fact that an average worker on the Pentax assembly line in Vietnam receives on average $1.50 per day, and lives in questionable living conditions... bit of food for thought next time we reach for our favourite lens...

Even if the subject matter in the photo is not pleasant, the composition, light, etc and the suitability of the fish eye lens were the items I was more keen to get some feedback on...

Cheers,

Adam.

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Last edited by PentAdam; 04-07-2011 at 01:54 AM.

[dermc]

I would agree that the subject matter in this series is not pleasant. However this photojournalism style
of shooting (#1) may not always be pleasant but without it many issues would go unknown.
To answer the original question, I think the fisheye (due to the distorted view)works to give an outside perspective of the scene not as glamourizing the activity but the perspective that "this happens". I think the second shot does not achieve the same effect and brings the viewer inside (the circle).
The fact is that any type of animal cruelty is wrong but it is easy for some to dismiss it without visual proof. This is the same for war and current events, not always pleasant but it does bring issues home.
my two cents,
d

[Sagitta]

Gruesome subject matter, but a compelling image. Poor roosters.

First shot is kind of a 'gaper' image, as if you're driving past a car wreck on the interstate. The second image brings you right into it though - and the impassive loks on the two children watching are the clincher for it.

[Black_ronin]

Sometimes photos just like reality may not be pleasant, it is often the case do we choose to look the other way or do something about... stop what is going on, or take a photograph, from the former a profession of photojournalism has evolved I believe.

I have to say that from an animal walfare perspective this is not a nice photo, but nor are photos of many other things or events such as: battery hans in England, force feeding geese in France so that people can enjoy Pâté de foie gras, clearing thousnads of hectares of amazon jungle in Brazil to make way for soya bean plantations, hundreds of homeless people in New York's or LA's parks, and not even mentioning the genocide in Africa, or what is happening in the middle east.

We can all take photos of our pet dog and discuss the rendering of the bokeh, but let's face it, it can hardly original.

And if Pentexian community is so humane, why is it that we discuss potential quality issues of lenses made in Vietnam, yet hardly mention the fact that an average worker on the Pentax assembly line in Vietnam receives on average $1.50 per day, and lives in questionable living conditions... bit of food for thought next time we reach for our favourite lens...

Even if the subject matter in the photo is not pleasant, the composition, light, etc and the suitability of the fish eye lens were the items I was more keen to get some feedback on...

Cheers,

Adam.

Totally agree. Most people are hypocrites - they complain about animal cruelty while eating their burgers and chicken sandwiches. Is it more "human" to raise chicken as currently done in many factories across USA and boil them alive to skin? If you find it inhuman why don't you find ads/photos with chicken meat offensive? Why do you keep eating eggs and chicken nuggets?

Open your eyes - animal cruelty everywhere. Animals inhumanly raising/killing animals are not better of animals putting other animals into fight. We need these kind of photos to remind us to check what we are doing wrong ourselves.

[causey]

Thanks so much for the Ethics class. "We put people in prison (sometimes unjustly) every day, so it's hypocritical to complain about Guantanamo"--is this similar to the proposed line of thought?

My initial comment had nothing to do with the quality of the pics--great journalistic pics (except the first one seems not to have everything in focus, while the second has a bit of motion blur). It's the subject, not the photo, that's disgusting.

On the other hand, think of whether you can appreciate the aesthetic value of photos from Auschwitz...
The subject of some photos is horrific, but the pics are still aesthetically great. I suppose, this is so whenever the horror is more shocking than repulsive, disgusting, gruesome. In the latter kind of cases, the subject's horror tends to 'absorb' any aesthetic quality the picture might have.

[terptracey]

It seems to me that the best compliment a photographer could get is a strong reaction........ seems like this was accomplished.

[Black_ronin]

Thanks so much for the Ethics class. "We put people in prison (sometimes unjustly) every day, so it's hypocritical to complain about Guantanamo"--is this similar to the proposed line of thought?

So, when you see guards taking photos with naked prisoners in regular prisons do you feel angered or not? Would you call those guards animals too?

On the other hand, think of whether you can appreciate the aesthetic value of photos from Auschwitz...

I appreciate those photos but not for aesthetics but for historical value and evidence that it happened and how inhuman people can be.
I just find it ironic people complaining about animal fights while eating there chicken nuggets. Either complain about both or just enjoy fight while eating your chicken sandwich.

[JeffJS]

I just find it ironic people complaining about animal fights while eating there chicken nuggets. Either complain about both or just enjoy fight while eating your chicken sandwich.

Do you really think there is any Chicken in chicken nuggets?

[Pentax Convert]

Grim image! Very well taken, but I think this is just a disgusting subject. I'm glad I live in a civilised country which doesn't allow this sort of thing.

[christophleipzig]

I really like the first one.

Please go on making pictures of the reality. Photojournalisms task this is. I really would like to see more documents from slaughterhouses than (other) 1.000s of squirrels...

Squirrel season starts together with the grill and barbecue season.

[causey]

So, when you see guards taking photos with naked prisoners in regular prisons do you feel angered or not? Would you call those guards animals too?

I fail to see how your point relates to my analogy.

I appreciate those photos but not for aesthetics but for historical value and evidence that it happened and how inhuman people can be.

Sure, but then their place is in some kind of museum or documentary collection, not in a gallery or photo forum. And you don't ask people whether they like them. But the OP's pictures are somewhere between the 'gruesome' and the 'aesthetically tolerable'--since even journalistic photos need to belong in the latter class.

I just find it ironic people complaining about animal fights while eating there chicken nuggets. Either complain about both or just enjoy fight while eating your chicken sandwich.

Nobody here has complained about anything. But if you find it ironic that (some) people are against (bloody) animal fights, it might be because you tend to think in clear-cut categories. It's one thing to kill an animal to eat it, and another to subject it to torture. Just like keeping a person in prison is very different from torturing him. Humans have eaten meat since the beginning of their natural history--they are omnivores. Which is not to say that a human meat eater who finds animal fights repugnant is happy about the inhumane treatment of farm animals. Moreover, was it necessary for anyone who (might have) expressed his disgust at seeing the pictures above to also express disapproval of chicken farming? It's illegitimate to say one without the other?
Suppose that meat eating was wrong--the same kind of wrong organizing or attending animal fights: does one wrong justify or excuse the other wrong?