Perspective corrected?

[Aquarium Dreams]

I think there were two things going wrong when I shot this:

1. Distortion from the wide-angle zoom.
2. The camera was tilted.

To try fixing it, I used Transform>Skew, Filter>Distort>Lens Correction (Barrel Distortion), Transform>Skew again, And Transform>Warp. But I still can't tell if it looks right. It looks like it might have a couple unsightly bulges. Also I'm not sure if the original looks more natural. What do you think? Any opinions would greatly appreciated, because I can't seem to trust my own eyes on this.

Original:

Corrected image:

Thanks.

 

[cedew]

The new angle looks better. I'm not seeing the distortion you mention, but I suppose that doesn't really matter. I would like to see a b&w version of this one, I think the piano would really stand out. Take this how you will, but there is a rule I try to live by: If you're taking a photo in the normal standing position, you're taking a boring photo. Take the same photo while lying on your belly, show a perspective that people don't see every time they enter a room. Just my 2c worth.

 

[Parago]

I tried a lomo version of it and think it turned out kinda nice. What do you think?

It's a very cool shot btw, I love the colors. :thumbup:

 

[Aquarium Dreams]

Cedew: You've pinpointed a problem for me, and for that I have to thank you. I'm selecting photos for a project, and I've been trying hard to choose "safe" photos. When I was done selecting images, I looked at them and realized that many of them looked the same in some way, and I wasn't sure I liked it. Your comment made me realize the "safe" photos were mostly "eye level." So thank you. I'll have to go back through and pick out some different perspective shots to add to the project.

Parago: It's kind of a funny feeling seeing someone else's work on one of my images! I like the lomo look on this. It gives me some ideas. I'm going to go back and punch up curves and saturation to see what I can come up with. Is there a particular lomo method you recommend?

 

[neea]

This is a very interesting shot. I agree that b&w may help it. I'd like to see alot of contrast and maybe some grain or something.
Paragos edit is very cool.
I too would like to know how this was achieved.

 

[Aquarium Dreams]

Thanks, neea. I don't have any experience with b&w conversions, so I don't think I could make it look good. I would be interested to see a b&w take on it, if anyone wants to try it.

I tried this Lomo-look tutorial:

http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/how-to-make-digital-photos-look-like-lomo-photography/

Instead of using their method for vignetting, I used the lens correction filter at -50. Also, I set the hue on the black fill layer to 20% instead of 50.

I like parago's but I couldn't mimic that exactly. Also I wanted the shadows to be not quite as deep, but now I wonder if they're deep enough. Opinions? Preferences?

Btw, I think I'm addicted now. I'm considering a photo trip with an eye out for shots that would look especially fitting Lomoesque.

 

[Parago]

I ususally achieve my lomos by playing with curves (red, blue, green channel), increasing contrast and saturation, burning adges and sometimes adding glow.

However, in this case, I 'cheated' and used an action I had downloaded a while ago.

You can find it here: http://addictedtodesign.com/free_photoshop_actions.html