What's behind Door #1 ?

[SnappingShark]

What do you think?

I did a door photo a year ago and it was ... well ... pathetic.

This one I think, and hope, is aesthetically pleasing and well thought out compositionally.

But please, any C&C is welcomed!

 

[acparsons]

Very nice, I like the colors and textures/patterns. I'm guessing it is a church or a restaurant.

 

[minicoop1985]

ONLY thing I would change: your watermark's color. Other than that, great work.

 

[TCampbell]

I like the texture and lighting on this. I'm noticing just a little of that "leaning back" look but that's easily remedied with some Photoshop.

If you have Photoshop, there are a couple of ways to do this.

One option is to navigate from the menubar to "Filter" -> "Lens Correction..." (Shift+Ctrl+R is a shortcut on Windows, or Shift+Command+R on a Mac), then in the Lens Correction panel on the right there's a "Custom" tab... pick that. Near the bottom of the panel is a "Transform" set ion and you can just slide the "Vertical Perspective" slider to fix the sides so that they're parallel. BUT... on this particular image it cuts off the top a bit as you make that correction and there wasn't enough room above the door.

So ANOTHER method is to use the Transform tool. It may help to turn on the visual grid for this.

From the menubar, navigate to "View" -> "Show" -> "Grid".

Select the entire image with Ctrl+A on Windows or Command+A on Mac.

Next from the menubar, navigate to "Edit" -> "Transform" -> "Skew".

Now drag the lower left corner just slightly to the right. Then grab the lower right corner and drag slightly to the left. Use the grid until your eye is satisfied that you've straightened the image.

This will result in a skinnier door. So if you want to maintain the proportions, you might also grab the top edge of the image in the center and drag it down just a little. Hit the checkmark at the top to save and exit the Transform tool.

Of course this leaves you with the problem of a trapezoid shaped image which, of course, you don't want. So you can drag a rectangular selection of the image and then navigate (from the main menubar) to "Image" -> "Crop".

Since you marked your profile as images ok to edit, I went ahead and did this so you can see what it does.



The image will be a bit smaller since it had to be cropped after the transform.

A tilt-shift (aka "perspective control") lens using only the "shift" control (which is the easier control to use... the "tilt" is the control with the more difficult learning curve) would prevent the need for this but if the only thing an image needs is a perspective correction, that's easily done in software and doesn't require a "tilt-shift" lens. It does, however, help to leave a bit of space around your intended subject since you always have to re-crop after doing the transform in software.

 

[SnappingShark]

Thanks so much for the tip / how to, Tim - VERY much appreciated, and a good tutorial!!!

 

[sm4him]

I like the texture and lighting on this. I'm noticing just a little of that "leaning back" look but that's easily remedied with some Photoshop.

If you have Photoshop, there are a couple of ways to do this.

One option is to navigate from the menubar to "Filter" -> "Lens Correction..." (Shift+Ctrl+R is a shortcut on Windows, or Shift+Command+R on a Mac), then in the Lens Correction panel on the right there's a "Custom" tab... pick that. Near the bottom of the panel is a "Transform" set ion and you can just slide the "Vertical Perspective" slider to fix the sides so that they're parallel. BUT... on this particular image it cuts off the top a bit as you make that correction and there wasn't enough room above the door.

So ANOTHER method is to use the Transform tool. It may help to turn on the visual grid for this.

From the menubar, navigate to "View" -> "Show" -> "Grid".

Select the entire image with Ctrl+A on Windows or Command+A on Mac.

Next from the menubar, navigate to "Edit" -> "Transform" -> "Skew".

Now drag the lower left corner just slightly to the right. Then grab the lower right corner and drag slightly to the left. Use the grid until your eye is satisfied that you've straightened the image.

This will result in a skinnier door. So if you want to maintain the proportions, you might also grab the top edge of the image in the center and drag it down just a little. Hit the checkmark at the top to save and exit the Transform tool.

Of course this leaves you with the problem of a trapezoid shaped image which, of course, you don't want. So you can drag a rectangular selection of the image and then navigate (from the main menubar) to "Image" -> "Crop".

Since you marked your profile as images ok to edit, I went ahead and did this so you can see what it does.

View attachment 81429

The image will be a bit smaller since it had to be cropped after the transform.

A tilt-shift (aka "perspective control") lens using only the "shift" control (which is the easier control to use... the "tilt" is the control with the more difficult learning curve) would prevent the need for this but if the only thing an image needs is a perspective correction, that's easily done in software and doesn't require a "tilt-shift" lens. It does, however, help to leave a bit of space around your intended subject since you always have to re-crop after doing the transform in software.

Sweet! I've just recently been wondering how to do this very thing. Now I just gotta remember which picture made me start wanting to try it.

I like the door, Bright, especially with the Tim's edit. Really nice colors and good rich tones in that beautiful wood.

 

[Designer]

Since I don't (yet) have PS, and no way to correct perspective; I would consider ways to minimize distortion when taking the picture. Your camera position seems low, so I would try to get the camera position higher, say around the middle of the composition. Also get way back.

Additionally, could you have added some light to lessen the shadows?

 

[Braineack]

the edit could stand to straighten up just a tad more.




you can always use pixlr.com, which is a web-based editing software similar to PS. Or you can download GIMP, which is a freeware copy of PS as well.

here I quickly fixed it in pixlr in about 3 seconds using the free distort tool and just dragging out the top corners a few mm:

 

[SnappingShark]

Sheesh - there was me thinking I had it pretty much straight when I tried to level the blocks at the bottom! haha

Thanks so much for the straightening and distortion tips - I am definitely going to use them on future images! Wow, I need my attention to detail looked at!

With regards to the angle, Designer, I wanted to take it from a lower angle so I could emphasize the size of it - kind of like a child looking at at the biggest door they've ever seen!

 

[Designer]

O.K. on camera position. As for straightening, I consider what is most likely to be orthographic. So in this one, blocks of stone are not known for precision, but doors are usually hung plumb. Select the longest central line (vertical or horizontal) and go with that.

 

[Designer]

the edit could stand to straighten up just a tad more.

you can always use pixlr.com, which is a web-based editing software similar to PS. Or you can download GIMP, which is a freeware copy of PS as well.

here I quickly fixed it in pixlr in about 3 seconds using the free distort tool and just dragging out the top corners a few mm:

It's looking good!

 

[SnappingShark]

but doors are usually hung plumb. Select the longest central line (vertical or horizontal) and go with that.

Good thinking!! I didn't even go there!