Still Hanging Around

iam537 · 12th August 2008

Took this photo at around 7am at the floating platform about 2 weeks ago while the showtec guys had worked over night to the early morning.

I like silohoutte figures set against the colours of the background and low resolution screen, however as you can see on the right the shot was not horizontal, but the other 2 towers looks ok. How do I correct this shot? Thought of cropping the right tower but it (too me) would have made it worse.

C and C most welcome

calebk · 13th August 2008

Um, the other two towers don't look okay. Besides the very first, left-most vertical beam, the rest of the beams are all tilting left already.

This is because you did not shoot head on with the subject. but you were a pointing your camera a little to the left. As you can see, all the horizontal lines are also slanted.

You can try this experiment on a box. Get head on with it, and try to level your camera so that it's parallel with the front face of the box. You will realise that the four sides of the front face will more or less be rightly horizontal or vertical. Now, move to your right (box is slightly left to you, correct?) and try to get the leftmost vertical totally vertical. You'll realise that the other verticals and horizontals will no longer be straight but will slant one way or another.

This will help you to understand how to correct perspective distortions.

As for this shot, there are two ways to correct this:

1) Shoot head on; get it right at the point of shooting. This is usually the easier and less painful way to go about it.

2) Use a distortion correction filter in Photoshop to fix it. You will lose some of the frame as a result.

iam537 · 13th August 2008

Hmmm I see what you mean. Thanks for the C and C... an eye opener for a newbie like me

grumpy · 14th August 2008

Try a verticle frame, cropping and only keep the center tower, could be interesting with the 2 riggers on both sides of the tower.

calebk · 14th August 2008

OT: Now I understand how the "see-thru" screens along the whole rear of the stage work. They're thin, translucent canvases.

End of OT.

iam537 · 14th August 2008

Originally Posted by grumpy

Try a verticle frame, cropping and only keep the center tower, could be interesting with the 2 riggers on both sides of the tower.

Thanks will try it and I think it will for for me. Thanks once again

night86mare · 15th August 2008

Originally Posted by grumpy

Try a verticle frame, cropping and only keep the center tower, could be interesting with the 2 riggers on both sides of the tower.

i second this, simplification is better here, rather than throwing in so many elements to spoil the broth.

also, colors are looking murky here, maybe expose for half a stop or one stop more next time. can be rectified with processing of course, but best to get it right in cam

amosfoo · 24th August 2008

very tacky border and caption (typeface). might work better in b&w.

iam537 · 24th August 2008

So how would you suggest I tittle it??

amosfoo · 25th August 2008

personally i would seperate my photo from the title and not put them together. its your picture, so i wont want to give it a name for you. i suppose the caption that you've opted for's pretty alright, just not the typeface used or the placement of the caption itself. maybe try making it b&w and just keep the white border?

12th August 2008	#1
iam537 Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 61	Still Hanging Around Took this photo at around 7am at the floating platform about 2 weeks ago while the showtec guys had worked over night to the early morning. I like silohoutte figures set against the colours of the background and low resolution screen, however as you can see on the right the shot was not horizontal, but the other 2 towers looks ok. How do I correct this shot? Thought of cropping the right tower but it (too me) would have made it worse. C and C most welcome

13th August 2008	#2
calebk Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Clementi Posts: 10,476	Re: Still Hanging Around Um, the other two towers don't look okay. Besides the very first, left-most vertical beam, the rest of the beams are all tilting left already. This is because you did not shoot head on with the subject. but you were a pointing your camera a little to the left. As you can see, all the horizontal lines are also slanted. You can try this experiment on a box. Get head on with it, and try to level your camera so that it's parallel with the front face of the box. You will realise that the four sides of the front face will more or less be rightly horizontal or vertical. Now, move to your right (box is slightly left to you, correct?) and try to get the leftmost vertical totally vertical. You'll realise that the other verticals and horizontals will no longer be straight but will slant one way or another. This will help you to understand how to correct perspective distortions. As for this shot, there are two ways to correct this: 1) Shoot head on; get it right at the point of shooting. This is usually the easier and less painful way to go about it. 2) Use a distortion correction filter in Photoshop to fix it. You will lose some of the frame as a result. __________________ deviantART \| fotologue

13th August 2008	#3
iam537 Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 61	Re: Still Hanging Around Hmmm I see what you mean. Thanks for the C and C... an eye opener for a newbie like me

14th August 2008	#4
grumpy Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 1,507	Re: Still Hanging Around Try a verticle frame, cropping and only keep the center tower, could be interesting with the 2 riggers on both sides of the tower.

14th August 2008	#5
calebk Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Clementi Posts: 10,476	Re: Still Hanging Around OT: Now I understand how the "see-thru" screens along the whole rear of the stage work. They're thin, translucent canvases. End of OT. __________________ deviantART \| fotologue

24th August 2008	#8
amosfoo Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 202	Re: Still Hanging Around very tacky border and caption (typeface). might work better in b&w. __________________ Flickr.No.2

24th August 2008	#9
iam537 Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 61	Re: Still Hanging Around So how would you suggest I tittle it??

25th August 2008	#10
amosfoo Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 202	Re: Still Hanging Around personally i would seperate my photo from the title and not put them together. its your picture, so i wont want to give it a name for you. i suppose the caption that you've opted for's pretty alright, just not the typeface used or the placement of the caption itself. maybe try making it b&w and just keep the white border? __________________ Flickr.No.2