PERSPECTIVE CONTROL - Using layers to correct converging lines.

• Enhancing a gray day • Day to night • Fill-in flash with layers • Perspective control • Auto Levels • Back to main Photoshop page
• Create a wood texture • Create a wine label • Wavy borders.• Create a Planet in space • Filling with colour
All images by Jon Davison unless otherwise stated.

Gone are the days when you need to have a plate camera, or a PC lens on your 35mm camera to correct any converging
vertical or horizonal planes.

 


Above: The original image as taken, with no optical correction.
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Photoshop offers you an easy way to correct distortions that
come with ultra-wide-angle lenses, or any lens for that matter.
In the image here, the top of the building is obviously further
away from me than the bottom is.
Because your recording device is a lot smaller compared to
the scene you are looking at, the building will converge at the
apex, it will squeeze to fit into whatever format your camera is
recording it with.Therefore the top of the building will appear
to narrow towards the top (above).

Don’t worry, This is normal! With Photoshop this can be
rectified.


Final image corrected and cleaned up.

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A few years ago, if you did not have the luxury of a PC shift lens, this would
have been a darkroom job, even then you may not have correcetd all the
converging lines. The other approach would have been a plate camera
with tilting back and front elements, thus allowing your verticals and
horizontals to be corrected.
 

The Method

1.Open the image ‘heldenplatz_raw.jpg’
2. Turn on your ‘Guides’ Command - ; and the Ruler
‘Command - R’ and drag some of these over any
vertical lines.
3. Make a duplicate layer (below). (in the layers palette, drag
the image to the new layer icon at the bottom of the
pallete,next to the Trash can)


Layout style from my forthcoming book 'Photoshop for photographers'

 



4.Go to ‘Edit - Transform - Distort’
5. Pull the top handles (left then right) and watch the vertical
areas in your image change. In order to have perfect verticals
you will have to sacrifice the edges of your original image due
to the stretching that is taking place (below).

6. Keep doing this until you are happy that all the vertical lines
are paralell with your guide lines.



7. Once you are happy with the composition you can clean the
image up with ‘Selective Colour’ etc, similar to what I have
done here.


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