I really like this photo but there are a large number of things that are wrong or went wrong while taking the photo. While I appear to be standing flat to the facade, the "feature" roofline and the horizontal of the doorway base tell a different story. Was I holding the camera askew? I can bring the photo up in PS and correct the horizontal but I can only correct one horizontal and not all, so which one OR was this just bad from the outset and I should just move on. Have at it - remember you're the one's who've forced me to have a more critical eye in all of this. Thanks.
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Can we have a teaching moment
- Thread starter RedOrchestra
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It's to do with your viewpoint that causes the issue. It's a common problem with architecture photography.
I suggest using DXO Viewpoint software. It gives you the option to correct multiple horizontal lines.
This maybe possible in PS as well, but I'd not be any use there.
Hey, thanks. There is the Perspective Crop Tool in PS ... I have "played" around with it, a bit, but with not much success.
DXO viewpoint works really well ... you will lose some of the edges, as with any perspective correction, but it works.
The only thing you did 'wrong' was you were slightly off to one side and you tilted the camera slightly upwards to get all of the subject in the frame. Unfortunately this causes converging lines, it becomes very noticeable when you use a wider angle lens and your subject is close. Architectural photographers use Tilt / Shift lenses to compensate for this but they tend to be fairly expensive ... the cheapest I know of is the Rokinon which sells for $700 at B&H but it gets mediocre reviews. They do make it in the Canon, Nikon, Sony E and Pentax mounts so it's pretty universal. The Canon equivalent is basically twice the price.
All in all Viewpoint works for me ... $150 or thereabouts.
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WOW . pretty small margin for error, because if I look at the foreground, I wouldn't have thought I did that.
That was with a Canon P&S - and I'm going with an iPhone 7 now - so anything wrong I do up front can only be "fixed" post shot.
Here is a quick look at the sort of thing you can do in Viewpoint.
Let me know if you'd rather I take it down.
You leave it right there . real nice . it absolutely captures what I want that photo to be. Thanks.
Pull that into PS . spark it up a bit with some contrast . I need to get my head down and see what I can do with the PCT in Photoshop.
Pull that into PS . spark it up a bit with some contrast . I need to get my head down and see what I can do with the PCT in Photoshop.
It probably only takes that in PS, as well, it's just I don't seem to be anchoring correctly to get the result you did. practice, practice, practice.
Liking the feedback.
While I'm sure @Apple fanboy's strategy is fairly automatic and clearly produces great results, I attempted the same fix in Photoshop. After figuring out the correct method (a few guidelines dragged from rulers and a free transformation), I can confirm that getting similar results in PS is possible:
And because comparisons are, like, the most important things in the world:
Quick tutorial GIF.
And because comparisons are, like, the most important things in the world:
Quick tutorial GIF.
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Here is my attempt in Lightroom. I was being distracted by the curb at front and also I had to change the colours as you know I have a habit of doing...
If you're using your iPhone for edits, the app you want is SKRWT to fix any kind of perspective problem.
Dunno I used yours as a base image must be artifact from yours...Whys the bottom of your door wonky?
Too many Ironbrews I reckon.Dunno I used yours as a base image must be artifact from yours...
Actually, it's pretty obvious in the photo. The two brick walls that are perpendicular to the facade are at different angles. You took this photo slightly to the right of the building which is why the perpendicular brick wall on the left hand side shows a more exposed view of the brick.
In the old view camera days (the ones that look like bellows), you'd adjust the front standard or back standard of the camera to adjust tilt and swing. A ground glass (for focusing) that has grid lines would be employed to help the photographer.
As mentioned above, 35mm SLR architectural photographers can use tilt-and-shift lenses to minimize the effect (it does not completely replace the full range of motion as the tilt-and-swing of a rail view camera. Many photographers probably use focusing screens with gridlines too, but it can be difficult to properly focus in a 35mm viewfinder to the extent required for architectural photography. Digital SLR photographers should be able to connect their cameras to laptops, allowing to preview and zoom the image for proper focusing and adjusting.
Here are a few examples of a tilt-and-shift lens in action.
If you are going to continue with this type of photography with an iPhone, do not use the native iOS camera app. Use a third-party camera app that has gridlines. I know Camera+ is one such app, but I'm sure there are others.
Camera+ also has a basic level. There are other level measuring apps like Clinometer and Spyglass that will help level the camera before you take the shot.
For sure, you should be using a tripod. To take the picture, either use a short self-timer or use an earphone cord and press one of the volume control buttons as the shutter button.
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#1 You were not centered on the facade nor were you holding the camera's image/sensor plane parallel to the facade, neither horizontally nor vertically.
#2 As others have posted, you can "correct" the errors in a variety of applications, though it should be noted than absolutely none of these correctlons completely correct the image. If you look closely at the corrected images the views into each of the recessed windows and the doorway are not natural. The amount of the side walls around the recesses reveal the initial offset position of the camera.
Absolutely - you cannot use these tools to generate information that was not originally captured from the original angle of view. The greater the correction required, the more unreal the corrected version becomes.