Unno_2

A technique to photograph with Wide angle lens
by Kazuo Unno

Papilio helenus (1987/11 Kaneshiro, Okinawa pref.)
Nikon FE2, Sigma16mm F2.8, Fisheye, f11.5, 1/250, flash, RFP
"While taking pictures of butterflies, the most disappointing thing was not being able to shoot the butterfly image on the photograph. The butterfly I'm looking at has a close relationship with the surrounding environment, but the butterfly on the photograph is separated from the butterfly."

How can I express the scene on a photograph? The graphics we see are seen by the brain, making it possible to close-up to the butterfly, cutting away the scenery around it. Meaning in photographical terms that our vision is wide-angled at the same time telephoto, but not a zoom lens, letting the wide angle and telephoto characteristics coexist.

Chrysozephyrus smaragdinus (1984/6, Nagasaka-cho, Yamanashi pref.)（
Olympus OM4, 21mm F2, f16, 1/60, flash, KR
This picture is the first time I attempted to use a strobe light on a wide-angled lens.
The male Chrysozephyrus smaragdinus were trying to fight fortheir teritories.
On the other hand, shooting a photograph would mean to cut out 3d onto a 2d dimension using the film. If you want to express an image, you must know lens characteristics as well as techniques to shoot pictures.

"My image of a butterfly is that, it has a place, and the butterfly is there. Besides that, it has to be big and impressive." I always wanted to take an original picture of me meeting with the butterfly. While I continued shooting pictures, I got to know a little about photography, and I bought a wide-angled lens since I was able to afford some lenses. Wide-angled lenses have wide degree of expansion, and also has a long focusing depth. I believed that I could take the photograph of the butterfly while I took the background as well using the characteristics of the wide-angled lenses.

Trogonoptera brookiana (1993/4, Malaysia)
Nikon FE2, Sigma15mm F2.8, Fisheye, f8, 1/125, flash, RDP
I used the 15mm fish-eyed lens and got as close as I could.
These butterflies have become friends, so they will let me get really close, and they won't even fly away when I touch them.
But after trying, I understood that no matter how deep the focusing depth is, if I went close to the butterfly to get a big image, the background will naturally blur.

So, I tried using lenses with much shorter focusing depth. I knew from the print of each picture that using the ultra-wide-angled lens or a diagonal fisheye lens of about 20mm was able to produce the closest pictures that I've imaged. I started feeling closer to the butterfly since I started thinking that a butterfly's eyes where wide-angled and that the world seen from a butterfly was close to that seen from a fisheye lens. After that, these lenses became my standard lens. (From the book "scenes of flying butterflies" by Mr. Kazuo Unno. Heibon publishing)

(Thanks to Mr. Kazuo Unno, We copied this page from his homepage.)

BACK

Papilio helenus (1987/11 Kaneshiro, Okinawa pref.) Nikon FE2, Sigma16mm F2.8, Fisheye, f11.5, 1/250, flash, RFP		"While taking pictures of butterflies, the most disappointing thing was not being able to shoot the butterfly image on the photograph. The butterfly I'm looking at has a close relationship with the surrounding environment, but the butterfly on the photograph is separated from the butterfly." How can I express the scene on a photograph? The graphics we see are seen by the brain, making it possible to close-up to the butterfly, cutting away the scenery around it. Meaning in photographical terms that our vision is wide-angled at the same time telephoto, but not a zoom lens, letting the wide angle and telephoto characteristics coexist.

Chrysozephyrus smaragdinus (1984/6, Nagasaka-cho, Yamanashi pref.)（ Olympus OM4, 21mm F2, f16, 1/60, flash, KR This picture is the first time I attempted to use a strobe light on a wide-angled lens. The male Chrysozephyrus smaragdinus were trying to fight fortheir teritories.		On the other hand, shooting a photograph would mean to cut out 3d onto a 2d dimension using the film. If you want to express an image, you must know lens characteristics as well as techniques to shoot pictures. "My image of a butterfly is that, it has a place, and the butterfly is there. Besides that, it has to be big and impressive." I always wanted to take an original picture of me meeting with the butterfly. While I continued shooting pictures, I got to know a little about photography, and I bought a wide-angled lens since I was able to afford some lenses. Wide-angled lenses have wide degree of expansion, and also has a long focusing depth. I believed that I could take the photograph of the butterfly while I took the background as well using the characteristics of the wide-angled lenses.

Trogonoptera brookiana (1993/4, Malaysia) Nikon FE2, Sigma15mm F2.8, Fisheye, f8, 1/125, flash, RDP I used the 15mm fish-eyed lens and got as close as I could. These butterflies have become friends, so they will let me get really close, and they won't even fly away when I touch them.		But after trying, I understood that no matter how deep the focusing depth is, if I went close to the butterfly to get a big image, the background will naturally blur. So, I tried using lenses with much shorter focusing depth. I knew from the print of each picture that using the ultra-wide-angled lens or a diagonal fisheye lens of about 20mm was able to produce the closest pictures that I've imaged. I started feeling closer to the butterfly since I started thinking that a butterfly's eyes where wide-angled and that the world seen from a butterfly was close to that seen from a fisheye lens. After that, these lenses became my standard lens. (From the book "scenes of flying butterflies" by Mr. Kazuo Unno. Heibon publishing)