One of the first things I do after entering a State Capitol building is to position myself in the center of the rotunda floor directly below the dome. If the camera is perfectly positioned under the center of the dome, everything in the frame will align within the circles. If the camera is off by just a couple of inches, the elements in the frame will not be aligned and the image does not look as appealing to my eye.

While laying on the floor of the Arkansas State Capitol, I captured this photograph with my new Sigma 15mm fisheye lens:

Arkansas DomeInner dome from the rotunda floor of the Arkansas State Capitol building at 500 Woodlane Drive in Little Rock, Arkansas on January 15, 2014. This photograph consists of five exposures blended together to create a high dynamic range (HDR) image.

I usually don't like removing a lens with the camera faced up since that increases the chances of getting dust on the sensor. But, since I was indoors and it was such an effort to get everything lined up, I left the camera on the tripod and carefully exchanged the Sigma 15mm fisheye for the Nikon 70-200mm lens.

I zoomed to the 92mm focal length to frame the chandelier inside the dome. Here's that image:

Arkansas ChandelierChandelier hanging from the dome of the Arkansas State Capitol building at 500 Woodlane Drive in Little Rock, Arkansas on January 15, 2014 Unfortunately, the closer view reveals that the chandelier isn't completely centered inside the circles. :(

Often times, I find it helpful to look at a scene through a variety of lenses. You never know for sure what you'll see.