What Can Be Used To Distort Photos With Camera
Ever wondered why your subjects look disproportioned in sure images compared to real life? Or why buildings look like they are tipping? Chances are it's due to lens distortion. And no thing how expensive your lens, all accept some distortion. The adept news is it'southward normally fixable in post processing and can even be desirable!
Lens distortion is an important gene to exist enlightened of in the photography world. Different lenses cause this baloney to try to be able to fit more than in the frame. Side annotation a 35mm is going to be your best lens to accept to be able to fit more in the frame without lens baloney. I digress.
It tin can brand or intermission our images as artists, depending on the look and feel we are trying to achieve. Today I'll explicate what distortion is, why information technology's adept or bad, and how to correct it in mail processing if needed.
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What is lens distortion?
In a nutshell, it'southward when a lens produces curved lines where straight lines should be. The two most common types of lens distortion are barrel distortion and pincushion distortion.
Barrel baloney is where straight lines bend outward from the center of the image.
Wide-angle prime lenses such as a 20mm lens or zoom lenses like my Nikon 24-70mm shot at its wide cease typically produce images with barrel distortion because they take a broad field of view.
Interested in seeing a lens comparison? Read hither!
Y'all will most often notice distortion in architectural images where the lines of the buildings bow outward, away from the center of the prototype. In portraits, it tin make subjects expect pudgy or large-headed in comparing to the residue of their trunk.
Examples of wide-angle lens distortion
Here's an architectural image I took in Barcelona last summer. If yous look closely at the pillars in the first one, they are slanted. The second image is after the baloney was corrected in Lightroom. You lot will notice the pillars are straightened in the 2nd paradigm.
Hither's some other example. Notice the curved gates, wall, and the temple in the background that seems to be leaning backwards slightly.
I actually liked the original distorted version of this photo meliorate because after I made corrections it cropped his anxiety out, which bothered me more than the curved lines. It'south always your call as the artist on what you want to fix/change!
Butt distortion volition also occur if you are standing too close to your subject with a broad bending lens or a zoom lens at the wide stop (ie. 24mm). Whatever body part is closest to the photographic camera, it will look abnormally big! Heads, eyes, noses or limbs will look pronounced and awkward. This is why it's not usually a good idea to shoot portraits with a wide-angle lens! The best focal length for portraits is 50mm and in a higher place when trying to avoid distortion.
Hither's a portrait comparison using my 24-70mm lens shot at different focal lengths, standing about the same distance from my son. Detect how odd his head looks at 24mm vs. 55 mm. And how small the balance of his body looks compared to his head.
Pincushion distortion is where straight lines bend or "compression" inward from the center of the prototype.
Unremarkably pincushion distortion happens at the telephoto stop (ie. 200mm) of a zoom lens such as a 70-200mm lens. It tin can actually be bang-up for portraits because information technology can make people wait thinner than they are! You volition almost likely detect pincushion distortion in images with directly lines. The farther the lines are away from the center of the image, the more than noticeable the distortion volition exist. Here's an instance. The roof top of Caesar'south Palace in Vegas…
When is baloney a good matter?
Distortion tin can be fun! The previous prototype of Caesar'due south Palace would have been quite boring with a direct roof. Don't you agree? I intentionally chose distortion by shooting wide at 24mm, and placing the roofline towards the superlative 1/3 of the epitome, which curved the line.
Other examples of intentional distortion is when you lot want to to portray humor or a feeling that your subjects are coming at you lot equally a viewer.
Or when you desire to create a unique perspective. I shot this adjacent paradigm a couple of years ago of my baby eating. I wanted the viewer to experience my perspective as I was feeding him. Detect his hand and head/eyes are slightly larger than normal, but it adds to the feeling of the image.
A fish-eye lens is also a bang-up style to practice intentional distortion. My talented friend Kelly Garvey, using her 16mm f/2.8 fish-eye lens, shot these images.
It's can be an artistic conclusion whether or not yous desire to contain the await of distortion into your images!
How to correct distortion in Lightroom?
About of the fourth dimension I don't realize I accept distortion bug until I pull upwardly my images in post processing. And ordinarily I don't want it in that location! You will find that distortion appears in many images containing windows and door frames. If you train your eye to spot the baloney in0-camera, as you shoot, you lot will save yourself some fourth dimension fixing information technology later. Sometimes by only scooting back or changing the plane of your camera in relation to your subject area you lot can convalesce some baloney. Movement college, lower, to the side, or alter your focal length until you have the look you lot are going for. If there's no way to avoid it, and you don't similar the wait of baloney in your images, here'southward how to prepare it in Lightroom and Photoshop…
Lightroom
Under the Develop module, and Lens Corrections tab, cheque "Enable Profile Corrections" and then experiment with choosing either machine, level, vertical, or full. Usually if I'm trying to correct lines I will choose vertical.
If you want to fine tune your corrections you can click on the Manual tab under Lens Corrections where you can experiment with the different sliders to get your desired results. Also note, sometimes when making a lot of corrections yous will demand to re-crop the epitome because the changes will pull the sides of the image inward. I effort to shoot with enough of room on the sides when I know there volition be baloney so I accept room to crop later on. This is also a good reason to shoot in raw…and then you lot take more than pixels to work with if you lot need to crop later on fixing distortion.
Photoshop
I use Photoshop CS5, but these options should be the aforementioned in more recent versions equally well. Under Filter>>Lens Corrections you lot should encounter some of the same options as Lightroom where you tin auto correct or go nether >>Custom to fine tune. With the prototype below I experimented with vertical and horizontal perspective until the wall looked upright.
Sometimes Lightroom does a meliorate chore at fixing distortion than Photoshop, or vice versa. I tend to do all my adjustments in Lightroom because I prefer the results I get over Photoshop. But experience gratis to experiment! Hither'south the before and after of an epitome I shot in Kingdom of spain. I corrected the leaning wall and so it didn't announced to be falling!
Promise this post helped explain lens distortion and the importance it plays in your images! Delight share your thoughts or questions in the comments if you have them!
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