Tips on Editing This?

H4X1MA · Sep 19, 2011

I took this this weekend with a Sigma 8-16 @ 8mm. As you can see everything is slanted inwards which is pretty much to be expected. How can I edit this in post to make it better?

What I tried at first was to use Perspective and get the lines as straight as I could, then cropped. This only got them close, so I tried using warp to finish it off but as soon as i get 1 line correct i throw 9 other lines off. plus I get this monstrosity below that just looks like a funhouse mirror. Am I doomed to never have straight lines using wide angle? Maybe that's a dumb question >.< I really like the way the original looks but the barn on the right is really throwing it out of whack. maybe I should just crop/clone the barn?

tirediron · Sep 19, 2011

If you have access to CS 3 or higher, try the distortion filter.

Trever1t · Sep 19, 2011

cool building!

480sparky · Sep 19, 2011

My take:

When done:

H4X1MA · Sep 19, 2011

I forgot to ask, am I defeating the purpose of using the wide angle if I am just going to try to edit this so all the lines are straight? I mean I really could have shot the same pic using the regular 18-55 if, I was standing a bit further back, and not had all of the distortion. The distortion really adds the feel of "EPIC BUILDING RAWR!!" to the image (imo)

H4X1MA · Sep 19, 2011

480, your version also has crooked lines, maybe I am just worrying too much about them. It's one of the main things I started looking for after seeing so many people comments of "your lines are not straight!" on other C&C posts.

480sparky · Sep 19, 2011

H4X1MA said:
480, your version also has crooked lines, maybe I am just worrying too much about them. It's one of the main things I started looking for after seeing so many people comments of "your lines are not straight!" on other C&C posts.

I wasn't really interested in making it perfect. It was just a quick Perspective edit to show how I would straighten it up.

scifitographer · Sep 19, 2011

here's my rendition. i used edit>transform>perspective and edit>transform>scale. then i removed the reddish tones from the sky and building.

H4X1MA · Sep 20, 2011

Attempt #1913912

I think this is going to be the best I get. I did the perspective -> scale that scif did, and also dropped the red, but only for the sky. It still looks too tall, I like yours better lol

KmH · Sep 20, 2011

It looks like part of your problem was pointing the lens upwards from a low camera perspective, rather than having it level. An upward tilt adds keystone distortion to the already excessive barrel distortion the Sigma 8-16mm delivers.

H4X1MA · Sep 20, 2011

That's a habit I have with any lense, I'll have to try to stay away from it with the wide angle.

DiskoJoe · Sep 20, 2011

Why would you want to change it? The original is awesome. You are rocking this distortion. Too bad you dont see it that way. A pity.

Next time just dont angle the camera upward and you wont have to edit anything if you dont want distortion.

480sparky · Sep 20, 2011

DiskoJoe said:
.............Next time just dont angle the camera upward and you wont have to edit anything if you dont want distortion.

Then the bell tower would be cropped out.

H4X1MA · Sep 20, 2011

Just for fun here's another of this building from the front, bad thing is the sun was to my back and blew out the left window really bad. After getting rid of the distortion I ended up having to crop the bottom of the doors

The really weird thing, especially since this is a church, the pillar just to the left of the sign, in the camera, had a white box about 3 feet up telling me there was a face there. Looked as hard as I could and still found nothing that resembled a face, it's just white!