Fish Eye Lens and Music Photography

Harry Styles’ album ‘Fine Line’ had a warped photograph of himself on the album cover. Soon after, fans began to dissect his tracks all the way to the last detail but what about the cover? I personally think that the fish eye lens photograph is inspired by his single ‘Adore You’ (a visual connection perhaps). The stylistic elements of the cover cannot be put into a single box but it does have a retro technicolor aesthetic which hints at the diversity of the tracks in his album. The cover provides imagery that we do not see much of in today’s album artwork, however, the fisheye lens and the music world have a long history. So that’s enough of Harry Styles, I have a history lesson for you!

The fish eye effect had a massive influence on the music scene in the 1990s with hip-hop music videos making use of the 180-degree perspective and the rock and roll album covers of the ’60s and ’70s. We have one man to thank- a strange American physicist, Robert Wood who wanted to replicate the world from a fish’s perspective. In his paper, he detailed his experiment which involved a camera inside a water-filled container, a photographic plate, a focus lens above the water and a sheet of glass. The experiment and the lens banked on manipulating and distorting angles resulting in an optical illusion of covexness or concaveness. The end product was an extremely wide, curved distorted image that captured an entire hemisphere (180 degrees).

The lens and the experiment may have been lost in the dark for it was virtually unpopular from its making in 1924 until 1963 when it came to everyday life and nobody cared about it. The year 1963 however, fundamentally changed the life of the lens when Nikon decided to manufacture them commercially. The lens was now available in the market; it hit store shelves and we can now finally talk about pop culture and music.

As accessibility grew, the lens became a pop culture phenomenon. Artists like Jimmy Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles and so on began to explore the optical world of fish eye lenses. It became a unique creative tool which helped bend perceptions of reality. The spiral shape of the image condensing a vast panorama was in harmony with the shape of the circular music disks. It was as if the artist was encouraging the listener to enter this world they had created. The photographic technique was especially used by psychedelic rock bands because it perfectly encompassed the visual realm the music explored (eg, Hendrix’s ‘Are You Experienced’ album cover). The feeling of reality dissolving, a blurred and distorted perception added depth to the visual aesthetic experience.

Hip Hop in the 1990s began to engage in a voyeuristic presentation in their music videos with a CCTV camera effect. The shots comprised hip-hop artists performing for the camera. The ability of the fish eye lens to create forms larger than life was a major factor in their use in these videos. The larger-than-life look of the artists and the trippy feeling it added to the video made it an important part of the hip-hop culture. It accurately captured the energy and quality of the genre and it soon became a signature look not only for hip hop videos but for hip hop album covers as well.

Watch: Beastie Boys

The camera equipment found a place of its own in the creative world. The imaginative and twisted thinking of one man changed the life of the visual music experience. The need to view the world like a little fish, shaped genres of music, culture and photography and thanks to Harry Styles, we are here with a sweet little throwback.