Altering Perspective & Leveling

[PhotoRob]

I learned the effectiveness on skewing recently (courtesy of Frank M., muchos gracias), so now I'm more sensitive to 'what can be' vs. 'what is'. I'm curious how I might go about improving the angle of those short light posts at the base of the building - need a nudge in the right direction (no pun intended) re: the general approach without marring up the background behind each light post. I'm using GIMP but have no problem bulldogging the translation of the terms or features from one package to another.

For those of you experienced in shooting architecture, I'm also curious if I should just go out and get a tilt-shift, or if you think PP is plenty good enough to compensate for 'angle of attack' perspective issues these days.



ISO 100, f6.3, 8", 16mm, about 20 yards from the subject, vanguard PH-240 clamped to the car window, so about 4 1/2 feet from the ground. Building is maybe 30 feet to the tallest point.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Rob,

I think a truck with a looped rope and some grunt might be more effective at straightening them pillars than a tilt-shift - but I wouldn't want to be explaining to the cops; "no, no officer, I am pulling them vertical for my photo, not trying to steal them"

If you only intend to display on the web (and not print large in fine detail), a tilt-shift lens is probably not a worthwhile spend for a non-professional photographer, even one with architectural leanings (groan), because the softness introduced by perspective correction will be hidden in the down sizing and final sharpening.

The pillars here require a feature called "puppet-warp" in Photoshop CS5, not sure if GIMP, or any other free software has it.

I guess the manual way would be to;

copy them to three new (and separate) layers
rotate each of those layers in the necessary direction and angle to get each of 'em vertical
cut them out so only one pillar remains on each layer
on the main background image clone the leaning ones out entirely
now reveal each new pillar in the appropriate position

Good luck with that

[Mark von Kanel]

Rob i love the look you get with this perspective, i preferred the bridge with the angles as well, it give the image a sureal look which i kind of like, dont be toooo hasty with your corrections

[FrankMi]

I'm curious how I might go about improving the angle of those short light posts at the base of the building

Hi Rob, nice capture! I don't know if GIMP has such a beast, but this is one case where I think I'd play with Photoshop's Puppet Warp, which can stretch and move one part of an image without moving other parts. If that is not available in Gimp, then Dave's method should do nicely with a touch of cloning to fill in the missing pieces. Looks doable as an exercise but I'm not sure that it wouldn't lose a little bit of the real world (which isn't anywhere near perfect) in your image.

[PhotoRob]

Thanks Dave, Frank for the help. I'm not Photoshop equipped and you're right, no equivalent feature in GIMP, however I managed to piece together what I think is a workable image. Mark, appreciate the positive feedback as well; I started with a version where the light posts were skewed, and now I've got one with them more towards the vertical / in line with the building:



and a Color version:




More to come...

[Dave Humphries]

Looks good to me, well done Rob

[Mark von Kanel]

Rob, Hadnt noticed the light posts!! now they stick out like a sore thumb the straightened ones look much better

[FrankMi]

Hey Rob, great job with both the lamp posts and the building perspective! As long as you are doing so well with you post processing skills, were you thinking of cloning out the speed sign?

[PhotoRob]

Frank, you're the second to mention that speed sign (it actually originally had a 'no trucks' sign bolted onto the top of it) - I'll see about removing it all together.

Thanks again Frank, Mark, Dave for the feedback and assistance on this one...