Noob Question: Bent Horizon?

[Einstein]

Why do i get this bent horizon fish eye type effect when taking zoomed out shots of the horizon? It becomes more exaggerated when the horizon is close to the edge of the photo.... Im sure its got to do with the curved lens but would like to learn more.

 

[Vicelord John]

because you are using a very wide lens. That's what they do... it's called barrel distortion and you can fix it with some programs.

 

[HikinMike]

Wide angle lenses do that, but some do it more than others. You can fix it in Photoshop, if you have it ('Lens Correct' or something like that).

 

[Einstein]

Dont know why the image isn't loading but thanks for the replies. I dont have photo shop yet unfortunately.

So it sounds like to get around this, zoom in or adjust in PP. Is there such a thing as a wide angle that corrects for this?

 

[KmH]

Yes, the better the distortion is corrected the more expensive the lenses get.

 

[RyanLilly]

You can try Gimp as a alternative to Photoshop. Gimp is a free image editing program.

Also on cheaper lenses, when you zoom all the way in the distortion starts to go the other way; its called pincushion distortion. If you are shooting anything that will make it too apparent like architecture, you can just avoid using the lens at either end of its zoom range.

For posting photos, host them on flickr, photobucket, etc then copy and past the Embedded link. Its the one that look like "

"

 

[Einstein]

there we go!

the more expensive the lenses get.

of course! lol this hobby just keeps getting more and more expensive! When looking into new lenses is there anything specific that would let me know it has high quality distortion adjustment in the lens discription? Or is this just a rule of thumb and not a feature ie better lenses shoot more accurately?

its called pincushion distortion.

thanks for the help, will read up on this. I just got gimp today, do you know what feature in gimp does this?

 

[RyanLilly]

Its really just a rule of thumb that more expensive lenses are have better controlled distortion. Some lenses are advertised as Aspherical, which have Aspherical elements to correct distortion. But your best bet is to search for some lens reviews that have sample photos for comparison.

I'm not sure where to find the right tool in gimp, but from a Google search, Try from the menu, Filters>Distorts>lens distortion.

I think there are also some lens distortion plugins available, but you have to search for them.

 

[DennyCrane]

If you have a Canon, the supplied software has a section to correct lens aberrations.

 

[Einstein]

cool, thanks ryan and denny. I haven't used my canon software yet so will have a look at it.