1st cityscape attempt

[cfcRebel]

After living here in Austin for 5 years, i finally took a picture of her. :D Hope u like it. Please let me know if I can do better. C/C welcome.

[Skip Souza]

Way to go. I like it. Which lens did you use?

[cfcRebel]

Thanks Skip! I'm glad u like it. It was taken with the kit lens. ;)

[clickit]

Nice, I love the colors.

[cfcRebel]

Thanks clickit.

[ed2day]

Good job.

[cfcRebel]

Thanks ed2day.

[PhotosGuy]

Nice shot, but the buildings lean a bit! For something like that I'd shoot a slightly wider shot & make sure that the cam back (or the lens front) was straight up & down. A level would help with this. Then crop it to where it looks good.

[Ogrt48]

It like it but its a tad soft for my taste. ^_^

[cfcRebel]

Thanks Frank and ogrt.
Frank, i'll try what you suggested. Thanks.

[kbreit]

What settings did you use?

[Keiffer]

Very nice Rebel! I too love the colors and clarity.

[sixshot]

It works for me. The colours are great.

[cfcRebel]

Thanks for looking kbreit, Keiffer, sixshot.

kb, i'll look up the exif when i get home. Stay tune.

[mrclark321]

Nice shot rebel....Hows the weather down there?

Dan

[mrclark321]

PhotosGuy the water looks level but the buildings look angled, is this an optical illusion or just the way the pic was taken? ( I'm trying to learn too Rebel nothing against your picture just wondering what I could do if it was me taking picture )

Dan

Nice shot, but the buildings lean a bit! For something like that I'd shoot a slightly wider shot & make sure that the cam back (or the lens front) was straight up & down. A level would help with this. Then crop it to where it looks good.

[KevC]

PhotosGuy the water looks level but the buildings look angled, is this an optical illusion or just the way the pic was taken? ( I'm trying to learn too Rebel nothing against your picture just wondering what I could do if it was me taking picture )

Dan

Probably because the camera was not aimed perpindicular to the coast.

Nice shot!

[mrclark321]

When I scroll down it's dead even with the bottom of my monitor.

[PhotosGuy]

Because the camera axis was not aimed perpendicular to the buildings, which are straight up & down, so a level will help. "make sure that the cam back (or the lens front) was straight up & down."

[cfcRebel]

Thanks Dan and Kevin! Frank is right. I remember the ground wasn't level(rocks and sand) and i had to adjust my tripod's legs' differently. Then I used the river line and the bridge as the horizon, which I shouldn't. I should have paid more attention to the buildings.
Great advice Frank! ;)

[cfcRebel]

Kbreit, the shot was taken at 27mm, ISO100, f16, 1/15s, tripod.

[mrclark321]

Hey Rebel your doing great and really putting an effort into the hobby. I have not had as much time to do this and it shows, my lense is coming in tomorrow
and I hope I get some time to play. Keep up the great work!!

Dan

[cfcRebel]

Hey Dan, don't worry. Summer is coming. You'll have plenty of chance to get some great shots, especially with your 70-200L. I'm glad it's coming in tomorrow.

Actually summer is already here in Texas. We hit 100F for two days consecutively and it's only May! Geeezzzzz :cry:

[cfcRebel]

Here's a straightened copy. Is it better?

[PhotosGuy]

Better, but still not verticle. ;-)

[cfcRebel]

I think now the buildings on the right lean to the left a little, and the Frost Bank building still "looks" leaning alittle to the right eventho it is vertical in the correction grid when straightening.
Ok, i don't think any software can straighten this correctly, at least not Picasa2. I'll have to reshoot it.

[mrclark321]

Hey Rebel

I read your last post and downloaded Picasso2, nice easy program to use.
Thanks....Is there any downfalls to this program?

Dan

[pdrow]

Hey Rebel,
You need to shoot when the bats fly. Or is that the wrong bridge? I know when we saw them it was an amazing sight.
pam

[cfcRebel]

Hi Pam,
You are right. This year i'll make sure i get some "bat" shots at the bridge.;)
It's a shame i haven't seen such phenomena in Austin.

[Movick]

You've a simple case of vertical convergence there. I've not read every post in this string and this point may have been covered already; if not; here are a few tips:

Expect distortion when using wide angle lenses – especially with architecture. Look into a tilt / shift lens for shots like these. If a set of these expensive fixed focal length lenses isn't within your budget; use what you've got and utilize post processing to repair the flaw. The leaning or vertical convergence in your photo is a very simple fix in any image editing program allowing you to cut and paste the image and adjust the perspective. No special plug-in or stand alone program is necessary. I copied this shot, and put exactly 30 seconds into the repair shown below. If it’s not dead on; it may of course be tweaked to perfection from the original file. I cut the entire image from its background. Next, I pasted the image to a separate layer. I then adjusted the perspective of the shot by eye until it looked acceptable. Remember to crop the image to remove the extraneous background which will be showing along the vertical borders after this adjustment. You'll need to sharpen things up as well as a final step. Definitely shoot RAW for scenes like these; you will have much more information which with to work for the final product.


Good Luck,

Movick

[JakeC]

*Edit Movick beat me to it, which will teach me to refresh before posting;)

Just looks like barrel distortion to me, the building closest to centre is less than 0.4 degrees out of being straight up and down.....surely those who blamed the photographer knew that, even had the poor guy blaming himself too:)

It's a good shot that needed little work imo (sorry about the crop- personal taste) I used the distort and perspective tools in photoshop. By selecting to have rulers in your workspace, and dragging out guides this is very easy, the measure tool located with the colour picker is another vital tool for perspective corrections.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v333/JakeC/img_13011_585edit.jpg

[Movick]

JakeC,


Wassa matta you? You cropped out the beautiful chemtrails in the sky!!

Movick

[JakeC]

I believe personal taste was mentioned

[kjonnnn]

Great shot. I bet that shot would look even better just after dusk...

[cfcRebel]

Heh hey, thanks guys(or gals)! :D I appreciate both enhanced versions! You did great!
Tilt/shift lens is definitely out of my budget. I can only use PP to correct the image.
Picasa2 has a very simple straightening tool but i think it is not as powerful because i can only straighten one building at the other buildings' expense.

The leaning or vertical convergence in your photo is a very simple fix in any image editing program allowing you to cut and paste the image and adjust the perspective. No special plug-in or stand alone program is necessary.
Pardon my ignorance, I normally use Microsoft Paint to cut and paste images, but I don't see how i can achieve what you said with that program. May I know which editing program you refer to?
Thanks.

[cfcRebel]

Great shot. I bet that shot would look even better just after dusk...
Thanks kjonnnn! I plan to try that very soon. ;) But of course, i have to solve this vertical convergence issue first,

[Movick]

Just wanted to clarify this issue; the “leaning” problem we’ve addressed is termed “vertical convergence.” This is a simple fix as described above. “Barrel distortion”, which causes deformation more cylindrically, (hence the term “barrel”) is a more complex problem and requires special software to repair. Barrel distortion typically forces straight planes to bulge or arc outwards. There is yet another common deformation called “pin cushioning. This distortion is in a sense the inverse of barrel distortion in that straight planes appear arced inward. Both of these radial distortions can be challenging to repair, but not impossible with the right tools and a lot of patience.

[cfcRebel]

Hey Rebel

I read your last post and downloaded Picasso2, nice easy program to use.
Thanks....Is there any downfalls to this program?

Dan
Hi Dan,

So far I don't see any downfall to Picasa2. It is a program that allows user to organize photos and flag them easily, and it comes with some simple editing tools. However, it is not a program that competes with PSCS.
Hope you find the program helpful.

[cfcRebel]

Just wanted to clarify this issue; the “leaning” problem we’ve addressed is termed “vertical convergence.” ......
Thanks for the clarification Movick. Your explanation has been very educational. I appreciate that.