Luminous Landscape Forum

Equipment & Techniques => Landscape Photography Locations => Topic started by: wlieb on June 24, 2006, 10:44:18 am

Title: Correcting distortion
Post by: wlieb on June 24, 2006, 10:44:18 am
I'm familiar with Photoshop's CS2 ability to correct photo distortion in architectural photography.
Does anyone out there have experience with other programs that correct architectural distortion?

Hopefully BETTER programs that do not add their own kind of distortion!
Wlieb
Title: Correcting distortion
Post by: dlashier on June 24, 2006, 01:40:43 pm
ptlens

- DL
Title: Correcting distortion
Post by: TKSharpless on June 28, 2006, 03:29:22 am
Quote
ptlens

- DL
[{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a] (http://index.php?act=findpost&pid=69060\")

PTLens is just one application of PanoTools, a free image processing package written by Helmut Dersch, which does all sorts of wonders by applying mathematically defined geometric  transformations (using better quality interpolation than most commercial programs).  It is used extensively by panoramic photographers (self included) to do things like adjust perspective, straighten horizon lines,  extract rectilinear views from fisheye images, correct chromatic aberration,..., as well for stitching multiple images.  The most convenient way to use Panotools on individual images is as a set of Photoshop 5 compatible plugins (which also work with Paint Shop, the Gimp, and others).  For stitching there are several good shareware applications such as Max Lyons's PTAssembler.  You can get a complete PanoTools package from Max Lyons's web site at [a href=\"http://www.tawbaware.com/maxlyons/pano12ml.htm]http://www.tawbaware.com/maxlyons/pano12ml.htm[/url].

I have written some programs to adjust perspectives in my own ways, using the PanoTools interpolation kernels.

I don't think "distortion" is a very useful concept, except in astronomy, photogrammetry, and a few other technical areas.  Virtually all pictorial photos are scientifically inaccurate representations, projected onto the print according to someone's sense of what looks right for the subject.  A good architectural photo is generally a fabric of distortions, half-truths and downright lies, cunningly contructed to look like a building, ship, or whatever.  I'd urge you to think in those terms about how to "correct" your own pictures.  If you start with a decent view and plenty of well exposed pixels, you can do on a computer everything a view camera wizard could do (and more, because you are not limited to the projection space of a real physical lens).
Title: Correcting distortion
Post by: Dmitry on June 28, 2006, 05:31:44 am
Quote
I'm familiar with Photoshop's CS2 ability to correct photo distortion in architectural photography.
Does anyone out there have experience with other programs that correct architectural distortion?

Hopefully BETTER programs that do not add their own kind of distortion!
Wlieb
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=69055\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

PaintShop Pro - Perspective distortion correction tool
Title: Correcting distortion
Post by: francois on June 28, 2006, 08:40:06 am
Have you tried ImageAlign? There's a review on this site (here (http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/imagealign.shtml)). In the article you'll also find a few references to other programs.