Because a wide-angle lens can be focused close to an object, it is easy to get this kind
of exaggerated size relationship. The cure is to learn to see what the camera sees
and either minimize the distortion, or use it intentionally.Special-Purpose Lenses
A number of lenses exist that do not fit into the traditional wide-angle, medium,
and telephoto lens categories.Fisheye Lens
For the widest of wide-angle views, consider the fisheye lens. Super wide-angle lenses
allow the photographer to get very close.
A fisheye lens has a very wide angle of view—up to 180°—and exaggerates to an
extreme degree differences in size between objects that are near to the camera and
those that are farther away. Inherent in its design is barrel distortion, an optical aber-
ration that bends straight lines into curves at the edges of an image. Two types of
fisheye lenses exist:
■ True fisheye. A circular image is taken and the rest of the frame is black.
Literally, a circle is all you get.
■ Full-frame fisheye. The fisheye lens fills the entire frame. Distortion still
occurs, but the frame has no black, blank areas (see Figure 4.6).52 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER’S GUIDE TODIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY
FIGURE 4.6
A full-frame
fisheye fills the
frame.