Highland Cow and Ultra Wide-angle Shots

Highland Cow (B&W) (Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3, Olympus 9mm f/8 fisheye lens, 1/320th sec at f/8.0, ISO 160, handheld)

I had a short jaunt around the estate this afternoon with my Panasonic Lumix mirrorless camera and its lenscap fisheye lens.  This is an interesting cheap  little lens with plastic lens elements, fixed aperture of f/8 and only three focus settings, close-up (20cm), middle and distant.  I took these shots in Aperture priority mode, as that is fixed anyway, and let the camera select the shutterspeed and ISO. 

The above image is one rendition of three that I created from the same raw file.  I like this one in black & white and the low vantage point and ultra wide-angle lens really emphasises her head and the span of her horns.  I like the framing of this one with the bright blue sky (darkened here with a red filter appl;ied in Nik Solution's Silver Efex Pro) and the trees leaning inwards lsightly due to the wide-angle distortion of the lens.

The next two shots are from the same RAW file, the first, simply colour version of the one above.  The second is a portrait crop which I think would make an excellent gift card.

Highland Cow (Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3, Olympus 9mm f/8 fisheye lens, 1/320th sec at f/8.0, ISO 160, handheld)

Highland Cow Portrait (B&W) (Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3, Olympus 9mm f/8 fisheye lens, 1/320th sec at f/8.0, ISO 160, handheld)

The remaining images were all taken at Kirkton where there is an traditional old Lochalsh type barn which is category C(S) listed.  Adjacent to the barn is a lovely path that leads to the saltmarsh and shore at Kirkton Bay and there were a few nice woody glades with bluebells and primroses worth a shot or two.  For these shots I decided to stick with the wide-angle approach, aiming to get close to the foreground features while retaining an element of their context in the background.  The exception is the last one of the ivy covered fence post which was taken using my 100-300mm lens.

Kirkton Barn and Shore Path (Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3, Olympus 9mm f/8 fisheye lens, 1/320th sec at f/8.0, ISO 160, handheld)

Kirkton Barn Gable (Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3, Olympus 9mm f/8 fisheye lens, 1/200th sec at f/8.0, ISO 160, handheld)

Bluebell Glade (Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3, Olympus 9mm f/8 fisheye lens, 1/160th sec at f/8.0, ISO 160, handheld)

Bluebell Glade, Kirkton (Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3, Olympus 9mm f/8 fisheye lens, 1/125th sec at f/8.0, ISO 160, handheld)

Primroses, Kirkton (Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3, Olympus 9mm f/8 fisheye lens, 1/160th sec at f/8.0, ISO 160, handheld)

Ivy Covered Fence Post (Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3, Lumix G Vario 100-300 f/4-5.6 lens at 108mm, 1/250th sec at f/4.5, ISO 200, handheld)