May 2014 - Matt Bristow

Canon 8-15mm – A New Perspective. So I have had a 8-15 in my box for a bit here’s what I thought about it.

Canon 8-15mm has been one of the lenses I have been considering for a while. I can already cover everything from 24mm all the way up to 600mm. I know I need something wider than 24mm but which one?

I had thought the 16-32 f2.8 was a good option. Mainly for the low light capabilities. But then again that is only a measly 8mm extra and loads of over lap. So that left the Canon 8-15mm L but was kit too wide. A kind of joke lens you would use a couple of times a year? So the only option was to test drive one.

The good folks at Lenses For Hire had one and at a reasonable price. So I made sure that I had enough variation of Press assignments to give it a true test. I thought the Chelsea Flower Show and the first time the FIA World Rallycross Championship came to England would be a fair test.

So here are a few frames from the Media Day at Chelsea Flower Show.

Canon 8-15mm – A New Perspective. RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Press Day 19th May 2014, Chelsea London.

RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Press Day 19th May 2014, Chelsea London.

I quickly started to really enjoy using the lens and the new angles it allowed for. One thing that is a bit daunting is how close to your subject you can get. The following picture I was so close I very nearly knocked the guy over!.

RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Press Day 19th May 2014, Chelsea London.

And so onto the FIA World Rallycross at Lydden Hill. Now motorsport isn’t normally associated with ultra wide angle glass but I wanted see what it would do in the paddock as well as trackside.

The Focus of Ollie O’DONOVAN (IRL) (2). Day 1 of the Autosport World RX of Great Britain. Round 2 of the new FIA World Rallycross Championship. Lydden Hill Race Circuit, Canterbury.

Supercar Driver Derek Tohill ready to head out on track. Day 2 of the Autosport World RX of Great Britain. Round 2 of the new FIA World Rallycross Championship. Lydden Hill Race Circuit, Canterbury.

Its ideal to simply ‘get everything in’ in alot of environments. There seems to be a growing trend on landscape type action shots and its damn perfect for that kind of thing.

As I got more used to it its great to use it to get get otherwise unachievable scene setting images. But you have to be careful on the framing

Day 2 of the Autosport World RX of Great Britain. Round 2 of the new FIA World Rallycross Championship. Lydden Hill Race Circuit, Canterbury.

To see a quick summery and for other links have a look on my other site www.rubberduckdoes.com.

In conclusion

Its great lens which I will be adding to my arsenal soon. Its not for everyone as some of the frames you get are a little ‘freaky’ but it adds a new look that will compliment the way I work. On a Full Frame sensors results will be interesting for sure and at 8mm you’ll be cropping shots with your toes in!. Its also not cheap so out of reach for most. Performancewise I was worried by the low light capabilities as its only F4. I didn’t need to as it handled every situation I used it in with no problem. So for me it ticks all the boxes.

Panoramic photography if I’m honest it is my secret pleasure!

Panoramic photography never used to be something I paid any attention though. I always thought that panoramic photography was far too fiddly and time consuming. Add to that that the thought of needing specialist kit like tripods and heads it was something I was pretty keen to avoid!

But, and here it is, its a lesson in not believing everything you read! You don’t need all that stuff, unless of course its your bread and butter and you can justify spending the ££’s then that’s fine. But I’m a press and PR photographer and I cant so I have to make do with what I have and my available subject matter. I increasingly find myself out on an assignment shooting a set of frames specifically thinking about a panoramic.

I mean a good panoramic is just nice to look at, isn’t it?

Dunstanburgh Castle, Northumberland

There just something about the above image that to me is just ‘nice’ and I suppose that’s why I like Panoramic Photography. Some people will say ‘but hey, you can get that effect from a nice frame with a wide angle lens’ and yes you can but you venture into the realms of distortion and absurdly shaped people. However a word to the wise, you can go over board with a panoramic especially if you shoot wide. Below is a great shot which would have been better shooting a little less wide so the balloons are, well round looking!!

World record balloon channel crossing attempt

However sometimes that just the effect your looking for.

GB Mens Basketball V Peurto Rico, Copper Box Arena. August 2013

So here’s how I do it. I always, always shoot upright. Otherwise you’ll end up with such a narrow and wide final image it will be painful to look at it! I find at least 6 frames make for a decent final image. Make sure you keep the exposure even (I’m not going to tell you how to expose a picture) and have a landscape appropriate aperture. Then in post I use PS to stitch it all together. I think its important to have a point of focus, for example:

Richborough Towers the day before they were demolished.

There is also a technique called the Brenizer Method developed by american wedding tog Ryan Brenizer. I think its a missed panoramic technique as you shoot in the same way the only difference is that you use a shallow DOF and shoot more of a grid but the wide effect with a point of focus is still the final target. Yes Ryan has developed it as a portrait thing as you end up with a such a super small DOF but there are a lot of similarities, and the possibilities are endless!

Brenizer Method – Just a different way to shoot a panoramic

In ten years the only panoramic I can remember being published is this one I shot and added as an afterthought for the KM group an assignment on the National Trust property South Foreland Lighthouse and made a very nice 2 page spread in the paper a couple of weeks ago.

If you perfect the technique it is possible to get a group of people into one, which believe me isn’t as easy as it sounds

Anyway that’s enough of my guilty photographic pleasure. I think every photographer both amateur and professional alike ought to have one and now mine is out in the open. Have a go. I’d like to to see the results you might get.

So in finishing here’s a few more of my favorites: