![]() Once you are satisfied with the results, accept the transformation and remove the guideline. You may need to play around with other sections of the photo as well, or repeat the process a second time in order to tweak it. ![]() The guideline became the frame of reference. Within the Transform menu I selected Warp and dragged the handles on the left and right sides of the image in order to straighten it. I then dragged a horizontal guideline (in light blue) down toward the horizon. In this case I definitely did not want the horizon line in the centre of the image, thereby creating an obvious curvature.Īfter a bit of post-processing in Lightroom, I brought the image into Photoshop and duplicated the image onto a new layer. ![]() Let's look at one example.įor the nightscape below I crawled under a cliff face that helped to nicely frame the Milky Way. Although this method is a bit more time-consuming, it puts me in complete control and more importantly gives me the freedom to only adjust the sections of the photo that I feel need it. Photoshop has a number of built-in Transform tools that allow you to change the shape of whatever layer you are working on.The Warp tool provides the the most "flexible" option (pun intended). Why? Olympus lenses are already optimized for digital photography, unlike the legacy glass of many other manufacturers. I shoot with Olympus lenses and none of these are listed. It is worth noting that not all lenses are listed within Lightroom. If I wanted a narrower field of view I would just use a regular ultra-wide angle lens. This is the reason that I rarely use this option. This will straighten your horizon, and other lines, but in the process it will dramatically crop the photo, thereby reducing your field of view. Within the Develop panel of Lightroom you can select one of the available fisheye lens profiles and your fisheye photo will become a rectilinear one. Even the widest rectilinear lenses only have a field of view of about 120º - very wide, but not as wide as a fisheye lens with a field of view of 180º. The lines may end up converging or diverging a fair degree, but they remain straight. This means objects with straight lines (buildings, trees, the horizon) remain straight in the final image. This is the easiest method, but one I rarely use. (Am I the only one that struggles with maintaining a level horizon?) It's a feature that I leave turned on almost all the time, regardless of which lens I'm using. I find myself relying heavily on the built-in levels (both horizontal and vertical) on my Olympus cameras. Another option is to crop some of the image in order to raise or lower the horizon - something I avoid if possible. ![]() When framing my subject I will try to put more weight into either the left or right half of the image and if possible into one of the corners. This, of course breaks that rule - sort of. One of the compositional rules that many landscape photographers follow is to never put the horizon in the centre (that whole Rule of Thirds thing). For example, in the sample images you will notice that the smaller trees near horizon line show no obvious curvature while the buildings that are a bit larger do show some. With more linear objects trees, buildings, roads, bridges and the like, the curve becomes more pronounced the closer that object is to the edge of the frame or the larger it is within the frame. It works particularly well with irregularly shaped objects such as rocks, hills, clouds, etc. This doesn't mean that no distortion exists, it's just not as obvious. If you want to avoid the obvious distortions that fisheye lenses are known for, there is a very easy fix - place the horizon line dead centre. Let's look at some situations where it's been my lens of choice. With a 180° field of view, those situations are likely only to occur when a regular wide-angle lens just doesn't cut it. All that said, they can be the perfect option for some situations. Fisheye lenses can certainly be considered a specialty lens, they can create very dramatic distortions and they are not my primary landscape lens. I don't really disagree with any of those criticisms. Well, let's get the elephant out of the room. "They are a specialty lens." "They distort everything." "They're not a serious landscape lens". And that would be a mistake.įisheye lenses get a bad rap. The one thing that you might overlook, however, is the fisheye lens. Of course, you will eventually want to build up your list of equipment to include a tripod, filters, a telephoto lens and a few other items. When I was twelve years old, that's what I started with. With those two pieces of gear you can start photographing urban, rural and wilderness landscapes. All you need is a camera body and a wide-angle lens. Landscape photography is perhaps the easiest style of photography to get into.
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