For this review, I used the Fisheye-Hemi for Photoshop CS3 on a Mac. The plug-in comes with three different filters, one for each type of fisheye: circular, full frame and cropped. Once the plug-in is installed, the filters are accessed through the filter menu. According to Image Trends, the creator of the Fisheye-Hemi, the most important aspect of the plug-in is to not distort people, no matter where they are in the image.



How It Works?

Most fisheye correction tools work by mapping a 180-degree fisheye view into a rectilinear view—essentially, this straightens all of the lines of the image and gives you a field of view similar to that of an ultra-wide angle lens. This can be great for certain applications like architecture and landscape, but usually results in heavy perspective distortion of people or objects.

This view is very typical of a rectilinear image since its purpose is to straighten all of the lines. Also, notice how some of the original image is missing due to the rectifying of the image. The Fisheye-Hemi plug-in differs because it mostly straightens the vertical lines, provides a much more “normalized” view, while still retaining most of the original image.

Camera Compatibility:

The Fisheye-Hemi is compatible with most camera and fisheye lens combinations. Circular fisheyes are corrected with Hemi 1, full frame (180-degree view) fisheyes with Hemi 2, and cropped fisheyes with Hemi 3.

You might ask, what about non-people shots? Even though the plug-in is made specifically to make people shots look more pleasing, it also produces some very interesting effects with non-people fisheye shots.

Conclusion:

If you own a fisheye lens, this software is an extremely useful tool. It makes your fisheye lens more practical for everyday use and not just for special effect shots. The only complaint I had is that the software does not provide any kind of before/after view before you apply the filter you want. The filter does work pretty fast so this isn't really a deal breaker, but it would be a nice feature. At $29.95, the Fisheye-Hemi is very affordable and provides very unique results.

This review was excerpted from www.photographysavvy.com.

Thomas Pitera is a freelance commercial photographer based in Orlando, Florida. Pitera is also a full-time photographic equipment sales consultant, and his involvement in sales puts him in a unique position to gain access to the latest and greatest photographic equipment.

His interest in photography and his ability to learn about the newest equipment led Pitera to create Photography Savvy, a blog that allows him to share his in-depth knowledge of the digital photography industry with fellow photographers.

He covers the latest photo industry news, gear reviews, opinions and photography techniques on his website, Photography Savvy. For more information, visit his blog at www.photographysavvy.com.