Squeezing a bit more image area after using Photoshop CS2’s Lens Correction tool to restore verticals in some architectural images. (This only works with shots with simple foregrounds.)

I recently took a series of photos of high-rise buildings within London’s Paddington Basin and here was a way to use the water of the canal in the foreground to maximise the useable image area of the building itself without a major cloning operation.

Figure 1 – Click to see larger sized image in a new window.
Here is the image as shot with the 12-24mm Sigma using the Canon 10D.

As you can see, when straightening the verticals using Lens Correction alone you will lose almost all of the left tower.

Figure 2 – Click to see larger sized image in a new window.
Here is the Lens Correction Dialogue box with the adjustments I made to produce the image shown in Figure 3.

The very first thing I did was to use the ‘scrubby slider’ to change the grid size from the default setting. I did this whilst the image tiles were being loaded into the Preview window, by placing the cursor over the word ‘Size’ where the cursor changed to a hand and double arrows and dragging to the right to increase the spacing.
The next slider I used was Scale to allow me to retain the fullest extent of the sky.

I then made the major change by using Vertical Perspective and moving the slider to the left to widen the top (now you can see why I took the precaution of reducing the scale). You may wish to zoom in on the image for greater accuracy or use the Move Grid Tool to drag the grid to aid alignment. I went to the centre of the image to use the Straighten tool so that all my corrections were about this central axis.

Figure 3
When all the settings had been made, I clicked OK and then I added some guides to indicate the maximum rectangular area I could expect, as you can see in Figure 3.

If I do not want any canal to show you can see that I can show the pillar clearly, but if I want to show the full extent of water I will loose almost all of the tower unless I make up water by retouching.

Figure 4
Using this thought, I created a rectangular marqueed selection from that natural horizon and down to the lower limit created by the bottom right. I only transformed the area until the vertical was achieved. Purists might note the offset reflections, but most would miss this – poor cloning would be far worse and more time-consuming.

Figure 5

Now the image can be cropped with the same amount of building visible had the image been cropped tightly to the water’s edge, thus making a far more appealing composition and allowing for more space available for copy.

Figure 6

Here is the image with the new crop showing appreciably more of the left tower and more water space to add a strapline.

Figure 7 – Click to see larger sized image in a new window.

The end result, with true verticals, now has plenty of space for the Designer to work some copy into the image without encroaching the building. A minor gradation was placed over the top sky area to ensure the fine font was not lost in the white clouds.

 

About Rod Wynne-Powell

I have had to learn constantly, upgrade equipment and software equally constantly, and fortunately I have always enjoyed being challenged, so I am happy that I am still considered to be at what one commentator and friend has referred to as ‘the Bleeding Edge of Technology’!

Photography in all forms has been the mainstay of my work and the acquisition of a Canon 10D outfit has re-ignited my interest in taking pictures. My earlier experience equipped me with a knowledge of electronics, such that I understand a fair amount of what goes on behind the scenes with the hardware.

My inquisitive nature has put me in touch with Developers and Publishers of software over the years, resulting in my becoming a tester of pre-release software which continues to this day with work behind the scenes for the latest version of Photoshop and this puts me in a good position to offer clients the fruits of this participation.

I have provided my time to several authors with their books on Photoshop, which further establishes my knowledge of the ways in which the program can be exploited to produce high quality and imaginative images. I helped Martin Evening in the background for his latest book in the ‘Photoshop for Photographers’ series - CS2.

One of the many ways I maintain a presence in the marketplace is through my contacts with the ProDIG List and my connections to those Adobe refers to as the ‘Pixel Mafia’.

I am also fortunate to be known to Apple, Adobe and Calumet who have called upon my services or sponsored me to talk to organisations such as The Institute of Medical Illustrators, The BIPP, the AoP, and others such as Infot.

Text & images ©2005 by Rod Wynne-Powell – SOLUTIONS photographic

This story was posted on Monday, August 22nd, 2005 at 5:29 pm and is filed under Tips. You can follow any responses to this story through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.