Impact of perspective

erich6 · May 31, 2005

Most of us know that tilting the camera up when taking pictures of buildings will cause vertical lines to converge because of the difference in perspective from one end of the image to the other. I'm pretty much a newbie so I'm still trying to come to grips with how this impacts photography. In some cases I think the effect is a bonus and can go a long way to adding impact to the picture. In other cases it can result in bizarre compositions!

I took this shot a couple of days ago (click on image for EXIF). To illustrate the issue I lined up the left frame of the camera with a prominent vertical edge of the building (you can see these lined up perfectly so there isn't any horizontal tilt to speak of...that is, the camera is perfectly oriented so everything should be level). But look at how everything else looks like is tilted!

I've read a little about tilt-shift lenses...now I'm really going to check them out.

Erich

Safari · May 31, 2005

Have you considered correcting the perspective in software?

digismile · May 31, 2005

If you're trying to take a photo that looks "realistic", you'll need to correct the perspective.

But if your goal is to take an interesting, eye-catching photo, then you've got it!

I love this photo! Great job

Brad

Netgarden · June 3, 2005

Are you sure thats not Laguna beach?:uhoh just teasing...
I love that photo too. I get what you mean, I really noticed it alot with my small digicam. But some turned out very geometrical. Looks like an abstract.
I kniow PSP has the tools to adjust it, but I kind of like them that way, as long as you aren't trying a symetric pattern of buildings on both sides.

digismile wrote:

If you're trying to take a photo that looks "realistic", you'll need to correct the perspective.

But if your goal is to take an interesting, eye-catching photo, then you've got it!

I love this photo! Great job

Brad

XO-Studios · June 3, 2005

erich6 wrote:

Most of us know that tilting the camera up when taking pictures of buildings will cause vertical lines to converge because of the difference in perspective from one end of the image to the other. I'm pretty much a newbie so I'm still trying to come to grips with how this impacts photography. In some cases I think the effect is a bonus and can go a long way to adding impact to the picture. In other cases it can result in bizarre compositions!

I took this shot a couple of days ago (click on image for EXIF). To illustrate the issue I lined up the left frame of the camera with a prominent vertical edge of the building (you can see these lined up perfectly so there isn't any horizontal tilt to speak of...that is, the camera is perfectly oriented so everything should be level). But look at how everything else looks like is tilted!

I've read a little about tilt-shift lenses...now I'm really going to check them out.

Erich

And this is how it should be. When you tild your camera, the very center on the image will remain a true vertical, the rest will fan out. By aligning the left edge with a vertical everything else will have a list to the right, getting progressively more as you go further to the right in the picture.

Now I personally kind of like the effect. If anything, and this is up to flavor preference, I would adjust perspective in software before I'd splurge for a tilt lens (i.e. my goody list has lots of items ahead of a tilt/pan lens)

XO,

Impact of perspective

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