I have a few questions ??

[Spinners]

I shot a wedding for a friend, and the pictures came out fairly well. I did notice however that the stainglass frame behind the bride and groom was not level to the top of my screen? The little ball on my tripod stated that my camera was level, however the shots seem like their not. question 1?

1) Has anyone ever encoutered a church that wasn't level to their camera?

2) What methods to you use to ensure level shots other than the bubble on the tripod?

3) can you fix this in photoshop?


Next question is about focal length multipliers. I own the EOS 10D and i know the multiplier is 1.6 (i believe).

I took some pictures of the bride and groom where i swore, that the brides train was in the shot, but didnt appear in the picture, was cut off. Also the pictures seem top heavy.. as in more top than bottom in a majority of my shots. Even though i was sure they were in the middle.

Over all i am pleased with the shots, however these two things seem to need improved upon.

suggetions.. comments..

[minicooper]

The tripod may have been level, but was the tilt dead on 90 degrees as well?

[Spinners]

Interesting.. i'm pretty sure it was.. but that's worth investigating.

[Spinners]

i checked my tilt settings, and they were dead on. i only know this because my camera sits on the tilt plate, and the tilt plate is flat against the tripod. im not sure if "tilt plate" is the proper terminology, but im sure yall know what i mean.

[martcol]

I suppose if you're shooting wide and looking up then there will be some skewing of perspective. It's most noticable on really wide and really angled shooting. The flatter the plane of the camera is to any structure the more it is avoided. If you're shooting portraiture, you concentrate on the subject and not think about background structures.

Simple adjustments are easy in PS7:

Select All (Ctr-A)

Edit > Transform > Perspective or Skew or Distort.

You just drag the handles.

If you have to push it too far then you may end up with distortion in your subject.

You could try selecting the window only with the marquee or lassoo tools and applying the same technique to just that selection. It depends just how much detail is up there and how that integrates in the rest of the shot.

Hope that's some help.

Martin

[Spinners]

Yes that helps, but does this happen everyone else, or is it just more me cause im new.. It's ok if it's me i just want to be sure. :)

[Belmondo]

1) Has anyone ever encoutered a church that wasn't level to their camera?

There are lots of crooked people running certain churches, but I don't think that's what you're talking about. If you're talking about a church where the walls are not perpendicular to the ground, yes.

2) What methods to you use to ensure level shots other than the bubble on the tripod?

Ignore the bubble and trust the viewfiender. It sees what the lens sees, so if your picture is level in the viewfinder (i.e., if horizontal surfaces are parallel to the bottom of the viewfinder), the image will be as well. Trying to use the bubble will slow you down, and will not necessrily give you a properly framed photograph. If you're shooting flash, you probably don't even need the tripod. If you're shooting available light, then a tripod is necessary, although I'd recommend using a ball head instead of the tilt/pan units that come on less expensive tripods. Its much faster, and more easily adjusted to compensate for uneven ground or a floor that's not level.

3) can you fix this in photoshop?

Easily. Use the 'Transform/Rotate' command under the Edit menu, or 'Rotate Canvas' under the image menu.

I can't explain your problems with the viewfinder image not accurately translating to the image. I've played around with my own camera and have found that it's possibe to skew the image somewhat by holding the camera too far away from my eye and tilting it slightly. That's the only thing I can think of....as I said before, the viewfinder sees what the lens sees. The most likely cause of error would be that you're not looking squarely into it.

Don't worry about the 1.6 multiplication factor. It only matters as far as the effective focal lenght of the lens you're using. In other words, if you're using a 50mm lens, you're effective field-of-view is the same as an 80mm lens. You don't have to make any mental adjustments beyond that, and it absolutely should not affect what your camera records as opposed to what you see in the viewfinder.

Good luck with your camera. I think your problems really aren't problems. You just need to get used to working with it a little more.

Tom

[Spinners]

thanks belmondo.. i was pretty sure that i got what i shot.. but you never know.. thanks for clearing that up for me.. now i get to go into photoshop and adjust my pics.. hooray! i guess....



thanks again

[mkaplan]

Hi Spinners,
It would be interesting to see a picture what has the problem so we can more accurately help you.

Also, if it is not in the picture you could not have seen it thru the lens because what you see is what you get. The 'crop factor' does not cut the picture. The viewfinder covers actually only 95% of the actual frame so if it is not in the icture, you must not have seen it thru the lens ar maybe she or the camera moved.

[Spinners]

mkaplan, yes you are correct, what you see is what you get. i was sure that was the case. i just wanted some verification, to make sure it was me. that was a lesson well learned. as now i am fixing my images with a -2 adjustment on rotation, then cropping. i dont lose much so its a "whew".. learning lesson, instead of a "let's kill the photographer lesson"

i do have another question you guys could answer.. why, when i convert my raw to tiff, then open it in photoshop is the layer locked. i cant do anything to the layer, any reasons?

[pwagner]

The crop factor affects the image that is saved on the CF car AS WELL AS the image as it is seen through the viewfinder. In fact, the viewfinder shows just a tiny bit less than what is saved; there are a few pixels extra around all 4 edges.

[pwagner]

Fnd some horizontal or vertical edges in the scene (like the shingles or edges of the church) and make sure they are parallel to the edges of the viewfinder in the camera. It doesn't matter that everything is a few degress off from your tripod's level indicator; it only matters that it "looks right."

Some lenses (70-200 2.8, 100-400, for example) have a tripod mount on the lens that rotates within a collar. This can completely mix up the results of a tripod level indicator if the collar is turned a little. On the other hand, a non-level tripod can easily be adjusted by using the rotated collar.

[Vegas Poboy]

I used to have the same problem with some of my photo's to correct it I use a level that slides into the hot shoe cheap easy and you cant go wrong & it's really helps when your not sure of the elements your working with including landscape shots. Most camera shops carry them, I purchased mine from B&H.

[cubfan]

I just take the cropping tool in PS 7 and crop the picture and then the handles on the right or left side allow you to tilt the picture. It's super easy to do. You can easily do it in less than a minute.