Waves crash at Portland Head Light

[Gavjenks]

Wide angle lenses commonly produce distortion, particularly near the edges of the frame. The house and light tower appear to lean to the left. Some folks find this distracting.

That is not distortion. If you measure the horizon in this photo in photoshop, you will see that despite being off center, it is almost perfectly straight, i.e. this photo seems to have no noticeable major distortions.
The building leany-ness is a fact of optics and physics, and is the correct representation of buildings at ANY focal length (it's just most noticeably different than our eyeball's experience at wide angles).

I grant you that some folks do indeed find it distracting. But what they find distracting is simply the fact that the correct, non-distorted physics of wide angles do not conform to their personal experience in a personally satisfying way. They're not distracted by "distortion" because none exists here.

But mostly, the times ive been there, i don't recall seeing any leaning going on.

Yes, you do. It's just that your eye is something like 65mm focal length most of the time, and your brain has learned to automatically correct for that amount of lean in your perception so that things that you semantically know to be straight up and down in a gravitational sense appear straight up and down. When you encounter much wider than 65mm, your brain still tries to compensate for 65mm and it's not enough.

It has everything to do with psychological tricks you play on yourself, and nothing at all to do with optical distortion. The way you normally perceive the lighthouse is the "wrong" way optically, not the other way around!



And of course, on top of all that, if the thing actually IS leaning (like the tower of pisa), then, well..



@OP this is an absolutely lovely photo, great job!

 

[bribrius]

Wide angle lenses commonly produce distortion, particularly near the edges of the frame. The house and light tower appear to lean to the left. Some folks find this distracting.

That is not distortion. If you measure the horizon in this photo in photoshop, you will see that despite being off center, it is almost perfectly straight, i.e. this photo seems to have no noticeable major distortions.
The building leany-ness is a fact of optics and physics, and is the correct representation of buildings at ANY focal length (it's just most noticeably different than our eyeball's experience at wide angles).

I grant you that some folks do indeed find it distracting. But what they find distracting is simply the fact that the correct, non-distorted physics of wide angles do not conform to their personal experience in a personally satisfying way. They're not distracted by "distortion" because none exists here.

But mostly, the times ive been there, i don't recall seeing any leaning going on.

Yes, you do. It's just that your eye is something like 65mm focal length most of the time, and your brain has learned to automatically correct for that amount of lean in your perception so that things that you semantically know to be straight up and down in a gravitational sense appear straight up and down. When you encounter much wider than 65mm, your brain still tries to compensate for 65mm and it's not enough.

It has everything to do with psychological tricks you play on yourself, and nothing at all to do with optical distortion. The way you normally perceive the lighthouse is the "wrong" way optically, not the other way around!



And of course, on top of all that, if the thing actually IS leaning (like the tower of pisa), then, well..



@OP this is an absolutely lovely photo, great job!

then how come all the other photos taken from that vantage point don't have it leaning.

 

[jsecordphoto]

The photos my friend took, who was standing pretty much right next to me using the 24-70 2.8, the building/lighthouse looks exactly like that- slightly off center. Not trying to start an arguement, I'm just really happy with those photo and wanted to share. I'm SUPER nitpicky with my photos (as I'm sure most of you here are) and if I thought the building was distorted I wouldn't use it.

 

[bribrius]

The photos my friend took, who was standing pretty much right next to me using the 24-70 2.8, the building/lighthouse looks exactly like that- slightly off center. Not trying to start an arguement, I'm just really happy with those photo and wanted to share. I'm SUPER nitpicky with my photos (as I'm sure most of you here are) and if I thought the building was distorted I wouldn't use it.

oh it is a nice photo. No arguments. Suppose i think it would be important to figure out why it came out that way for future reference for you, or myself or anyone else really to help us avoid it if at all possible. A opportunity to learn. I don't blame you for being happy with this photo. It is very nice. And thank you for sharing!!


Maybe it is just certain angle it was taken at and a trick of the eye sort of speak.