Need some help on fixing perspective

Terrence

I got some feedback that this photo could do with some fixing to correct the perspective. The buildings and bridge towers seem to turn in towards the center of the picture. I shot it at 23mm, so I don't think it's the lens doing it, but I could be wrong.

I tried some basic straightening and all that does is throw the light beams off center. Any tips on how to make this a little better?

cletus

Terrence wrote:

Hiya Terrence

Nice shot!

You should be able to correct the perspective on this a touch. I've always liked Photoshop's free-transform tool for working on perspective. It's kind of like using a sledge hammer to kill a fly, but I like the fact that it provides a live preview of what you're doing.

pathfinder

Free Transform should fix this.


I rather like this shot, and the mild curvature does not offend my eye.

Was the camera sensor vertical for this shot or was the camer tilted up just slightly, perhaps?

jfriend

Edit/Transform/Warp

Terrence wrote:

I got some feedback that this photo could do with some fixing to correct the perspective. The buildings and bridge towers seem to turn in towards the center of the picture. I shot it at 23mm, so I don't think it's the lens doing it, but I could be wrong.

I tried some basic straightening and all that does is throw the light beams off center. Any tips on how to make this a little better?

First, establish a level horizon. This is a bit of a judgment call because you can't see a true horizon, but I found it needed a little rotation to get the water horizon to appear level.

Then, I turn on the grid (Ctrl' works as a toggle) and then used the Warp command (Edit/Transform/Warp) to pull the sides out until both towers are straight. Because the towers are fatter at the bottom than the top, you have to find a vertical line in the middle of the tower to key off of. This is what I ended up with. How far to take this is a matter of personal judgement, but I agree that the original looks off due to distortion from someplace.

David_S85

My workflow would be to take care of any barrell distortion first (at 23mm, you will have a minimal amount), then rotate to level the horizon, then fix the perspective (if needed). Never fix perspective first if there are other problems present.

PTLens is a Photoshop filter that can correct all three at the same time.

Terrence

Thanks for all the great tips! The rotation alone was not working for me because getting the horizon level threw off the light beams. I will play with transform and check out PTLens as suggested and see what I come up with.

jfriend: Thanks for the visual example too. Looks much better.