View of a Small World Fisheyed Final

This is the view from the Mirador del Rio in the far north of Lanzarote looking across to the small adjoining island of Graciosa. It was the hottest day of my trip with temperatures up to 25C.

The Samyang 8 mm fisheye lens I have is of the diagonal type which fills the frame. Pointed straight ahead and depending on the scene it can almost look normal. However if the camera is pointed upward in a landscape the horizon will curve upward at the sides. Conversely if the camera is pointed downwards the horizon will curve down at the sides.

This distortion helps to create the illusion of a picture taken on a very small world. 

Photomatix

The 3 images at 2EV separation were outputted in Photomatix detail enhancer starting with the painterly preset but changing it a lot with the sliders.

Photoshop

Topaz HDR crisp preset used to add more detail. A layer mask was used to remove the effect from the sky.

General adjustments were made in levels and curves to enhance.

Vibrance layer increase 30 points.

Blue saturation reduced for a more natural look.

Layers flattened before going on to sharpening.

Duplicate layer Noiseware Pro and a little sharpening.

More contrast and clarity added using unsharp mask amount 55 and Radius 55 with a layer mask used to apply the adjustment only to the foreground ledge area,.

The clone brush was used to remove darker areas in the upper corners.

BEFORE AND AFTER

Below are the Before and After images. First the original. Then the tonemapped image and then the final result.

Original at 0EV

View of a Small World Fisheyed Original

Tonemapped image

View of a Small World Fisheyed Tonemapped

Final Image

View of a Small World Fisheyed Final

For licences see View of a Small World Fisheyed

Edwin Jones