Summary: Make a surfer stand out by creating a silhouette effect This is my favourite surf photo from March 2017: Sony a6000, Mieke 6.5mm circular fisheye, ISO 100, 1/1000, f4, 6.5mm I’m pretty sure this was the only time I went to North Cornwall for a surf in 2017. It’s just over an hours drive […]
Summary: If you’re on a tight budget, keep an eye out for reviews of the $139 7artisans 7.5mm fisheye Since I bought my inexpensive Meike 6.5mm f2 circular fisheye for my Sony a6000 I haven’t used my Samyang/Rokinon 8mm f2.8 fisheyes at all. I love the extreme circular image I get with the Meike and […]
I’ve used the Meike 6.5mm circular fisheye on my Sony a6000 for surf photos and for some test shots which helped me compare it to the Samyang/Rokinon 8mm f2.8 fisheye. The video shows you my unboxing and some results of my first session and test shots. I ordered my Meike 6.5mm circular fisheye in Sony […]
There’s a new fisheye available for Sony e-mount cameras like the Sony a6000, a6300 and a6500. It’s from Chinese manufacturer called Meike (not to be confised with Meikon – the Chinese water housing maker). UPDATE: The Meike 6.5mm f2.0 fisheye is probably not going to be a good option for standard surf photos. That’s because […]
I’ve had a few questions about the Samyang 8mm fisheye that I use for my surf photography in my Liquid Eye C6000, Salty Surf Housings Basic and converted Aquatech housings. I shot a short video which covers the main things I like about it, the limitations it has and the basics of how to get […]
I had a go at flash fisheye photography with my Sony a6000 for the first time the other day, I spent a good part of my evening preparing my set-up, I had to work around the limitations of the Sony a6000’s pop up flash and it involved a lot of trial and error. The physical […]
Check out the latest Clark Little mini documentary, from Nikon Europe, in which he explains how he started out shooting surf photographs, specifically of shorebreaks, it’s got the feel good music and slick voice over, perfect for non surfers: Here’s what he’s shooting with as far as I can tell: Nikon D4 – the one […]
This 15 minute mini documentary is worth your time, Stab Magazine were one of the biggest fans of Laurent Pujol’s in the tube looking out/monkey on the back style of shot. If you want Mark’s using an SPL water housing with small dome port for a fisheye with a GoPro mounted on top (with a […]
I’m putting up a new photo every day on Instagram, and each week I’ll do a break down of the most popular image I’ve posted so you can find out a bit more about it, this tim the wave of the week is an empty fisheye barrel shot: It was taken with my Canon 60D […]
You should be following Russel Ord on Instagram, if you already are you will have seen this image of Mark Matthews at The Right already: Hopefully embedding this is OK, just go to Russel Ord’s site to see plenty more photo’s from this spot and many other mental slabs. Just look at that image for […]
If you’re new to shooting photographs of surfing using a water housing I’d recommend looking at Part 1 of my users guide to get up to speed on some basics of using and maintaining your housing. One of the questions I get asked most often about shooting using a water housing is – which port […]
I learned a couple of things whilst shooting yesterday at Spot M, if you just want to see some of the photo’s check out the album on facebook, but read on for some more basic lessons on shooting (and preparing to shoot) fisheye. Lesson 1: Sunrise is not predictable Firstly, I was shooting in Shutter […]
I hope everyone reading this got what they wanted for Christmas, I had a few uncrowded surfs in between pressies, food and family time so here’s a couple of images to keep things ticking over until I get back into the swing of regular posts in the new year. There will definitely be a full […]
I recently shot a session at a shorebreak wedge, there were plenty of people around so I got to put a new technique to the test, in the past I’ve pretty much just pointed by camera at the surfer straight on and fired away as they come close enough. When writing a caption for a […]
I shot a bunch of photo’s at Spot-M today using the Tokina 10-17mm fisheye, I will be processing them and uploading them when I get a chance, the light was pretty poor but the waves were really good fun. I tried out the “point at the beach more than the wave” technique (mentioned in this […]
The surf was small and off shore this weekend so I took the opportunity to take plenty of photo’s, I’ll be writing up a few posts that I’ve been meaning to get around to for a while this week hopefully, so for now you get a little teaser of the forthcoming posts in the form […]
Following up from the last link to Tim Nunn’s blog, on telephoto lenses, this time around it’s fisheye’s being compared, as before he’s talking from experience on Canon and Nikon so there’s something there to learn whatever you shoot with: http://timnunnsurfandadventurephotography.com/2013/11/07/choosing-the-best-fisheye-lens-for-surf-photography/ Canon’s 8-15mm L lens gets the top slot for Canon shooters, but it’s mega […]
Check out this post on the Surf Photographers United forum from Philippe Chevodian of Liquid Eye housings which highlights their latest budget housing design, it features a permanently attached pistol grip and the standard removable front plate. http://www.surfphotographersunited.com/forum/index.php?/topic/3172-liquid-eye-launch-the-new-i-model-c1600/ The big story though is the price of the housing: US $795, (about £520) so even with […]
The surf has been so consistently decent for the last few weeks that I’ve not had much time to write any posts, I’m definitely not complaining as it’s given me the opportunity to do some surfing myself and to put into practice some of the lessons I’ve learnt recently too. This post is just a […]
I managed to find a second hand Tokina 10-17mm fisheye, as I mentioned in my post about the surf photography kit I want in the future, this has been the lens of choice for many surf photographers shooting with a Canon cropped sensor body (e.g. Canon 7D, 40D, 60D etc.). This post is a quick […]
Fisheye photography has always interested me, I got a snap on wide angle adapter for my video camera as soon as I could, at the time I was influenced by skate videos like Misled Youth and the water footage in bodyboarding videos like No Friends, I like the distortion, the extreme close-up nature of the […]
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I've been shooting photos and video of surfing for over 20 years.
I want to help surf photographers like me get the right gear and improve their surf photography.
Contact me: ben@learningsurfphotography.com