Shooting square objects

bonzojr · Jun 7, 2006

I am trying to shoot cabinet doors for a cabinet maker's website. I am trying to figure out how to make the doors look square in the digital photo rather than rounded looking. Does it have to do with proper camera angle?
If so are there any tips on how to get the proper camera angle? See photo...
Thanks.

Big Mike · Jun 7, 2006

Welcome to the forum.

What camera do you have?

The lens you use has a lot to so with it. Some lenses have more "barrel distortion" than others. Usually, the wider the lens and the closer you are to the subject...the more distorted it will look. There is also perspective distortion and some other issues I'm sure.

There are lenses (for cameras with interchangeable lenses) called Tilt-Shift lenses. They allow you to tilt the optics of the lens to correct the distortion. I believe that they are most often used for architectural photography.

Actually, this should be fairly easy to correct in Photoshop, which allows you to skew the image by pulling the corners until the image looks square. Then simply crop the image back to a square shape.

Philip Weir · Jun 7, 2006

"Big Mike" is correct. Basically you should use a longer lens.

If you imagine yourself standing say five foot from a door [dead centre] then the corners of the door are obviously further away [maybe six foot away] than the centre of the door, so accordingly they will curve in. literally the further away the better.

If the problem then is squareness, then Photoshop can easily correct that. There is also a program I came across the other day that can also correct "barrel distortion". If I can locate it, I will post it. Philip

www.philipweirphotography.com

Big Mike · Jun 7, 2006

I forgot to mention that they could always use an old view camera with tilt & shift...but I don't think that's the answer they are looking for... :lol:

DocFrankenstein · Jun 7, 2006

You get barrel distortion on the wide angle of the lens and pincusion distortion on the long end of the lens.

So, if you zoom in "midway" there will be a point where you have no distortion at all. Probably at or very close to the normal focal range.

You want to zoom in, so that the diagonal of the area you're photographing is equal to the distance from the subject to the camera.

bonzojr · Jun 7, 2006

Thanks guys! I will most likely photochop it.

Take care.

Philip Weir · Jun 7, 2006

Big Mike said:
I forgot to mention that they could always use an old view camera with tilt & shift...but I don't think that's the answer they are looking for...

As Big Mike says, you could use an old view camera, or even a new view camera. You're right, that wouldn't fix the problem. The lens and distance from subject is the problem... Philip. :lol:

markc · Jun 7, 2006

Photoshop fixes barrel distortion? I haven't seen that without a plugin. I know you can fix converging verticals, but this is another issue. Maybe I missed that option. I'd retake it with a longer lens, personally.

Mohain · Jun 7, 2006

markc said:
Photoshop fixes barrel distortion? I haven't seen that without a plugin. I know you can fix converging verticals, but this is another issue. Maybe I missed that option. I'd retake it with a longer lens, personally.

CS2 has a 'lens correction' filter that fixes barrel and pin cushion distortion (amongst other things).

Unimaxium · Jun 7, 2006

Like DocFrankenstein mentioned, the best way to not get that distortion is to back up and zoom in. The closer you are to the subject, and the wider an angle you use, the more distortion you'll get. At longer focal lengths, things will look more square.

Soocom1 · Jun 7, 2006

Longer lens defiantly. Also a larger front element is called for as well. (77mm vs. 52mm). But if you don’t have one of those, oh well. If you have a lens hood, use it if you are not already.

Try to keep the camera/focal area as perpendicular as possible to the door itself. If the door is tilted, angle the camera to match that tilt. Also, unless you are doing an emotional image (one of the door at an extreme angle or such) try to center the image at the two thirds point on the door, or at eye level. This gives off a more natural image that people can relate too.

Try to ‘neutralize’ the light reflecting off of the door itself, (a soft box comes in handy here). Also use multiple lighting sources. If you have not that, then kick in the old tungsten lighting and use a filter or adjust the white balance.

When using a longer lens, you have a tendency to loose a bit of depth of field.
Try to angle a light to have a slight bright spot in the middle or at the top BEHIND the door. This will have the effect of giving you more depth with the longer lens. Set the door up (if you can) with more distance between it and the background. You want to try and wash out the back of the door a bit to visually distract the viewer’s eye from the straight line the door makes. The partial line at top and bottom will be compensated by their brains and this will cause them to think the edge is straight. You’ll have to experiment with this, but the results can look a great deal more professional.

Philip Weir · Jun 7, 2006

Sorry,
I didn't mean the program to control barrel distortion is in Photoshop. Go to

www.epaperpress.com/ptlens

Don't worry about depth of field, as long as you are square to the cabinet door, the door being flat has very little depth to worry about, so go for it.

Soocom1 · Jun 7, 2006

Philip: I hope you didnt miss interpit what I was trying to get at.

This is really just a process I have used to get something to pop out.

The concept that I am refurring to is to create a sense of a 3D object in a 2D plain. I have used this concept with other flat objects before, and I have found it to 'fake' perspective correction quite nicely. Its not really the door your trying to get depth with, but the space behind it makes the door pop. It can be overdone if not watched, but it works quite well.