"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a photographer in possession of a good lens, must be in want of using it assiduously in the weeks after purchase."

Thus it is with my newly acquired Olympus 8mm f/1.8 fisheye, though these aren't the shots that I had in mind. Since a fisheye really does its thing best with straight, parallel lines I had intended to make my way to Coledale Rock Pool. However the residual cloud cover from our recent only-just-ended rain meant that the sunrise light that I had imagined was still grey tinged, watery rubbish so I decided to see what I could do with the rock shelf instead.

Naturally I had my high traction shoes on for this morning's outing. The question isn't whether you will slip on these rocks, the question is whether you will fall when you do.

I didn't. There is sometimes value in expecting the worst.

To get the fisheye effect you need to frame the subject just so. If you don't, you can get shots that look not so very different from a regular fast prime lens. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it's not why you have a fisheye lens on the front of your mount. Some examples will be seen in my "On The Beach - Shots From The Illawarra Beaches" gallery.

I thought that this one with the marine life (well, seashells, anyway; I don't know whether there's anything living inside) front and centre with the rock shelf curving away was the most optically effective example.