For about 4 years now I have been working with anamorph pinhole cameras.
And slowly it gets more familiar, pointing the camera NOT at what you want to be in the frame. You have to aim beside, above, or below the subject, depending on the vertical or horizontal positioning of the camera. But then again, vertical and horizontal are very relative words with regards to anamorph 🙂 Here are some vertical anamorph shots
(click for a larger view):
And I have learned, that anamorph shots in landscape mode sometimes show the effect less “jumping at you”, and often these are the strongest images. Here a few examples:
But sometimes you get challenged to really go wild with anamorph, and look for the full distortion. Here are a few, notice my selfie shadow bottom right in the black&white image. This camera has a huge field of view (in a donut shape).
Finally a picture from the Isle of Sark, the small natural bridge called “la coupee”. This is an amazing place by itself, and the anamorph technique adds to it. After seeing the result, a phrase from JRR Tolien’s book jumped to my mind: “It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”
