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Author Topic: Do trees need to be perfectly vertical in landscape photography?  (Read 7216 times)

Guillermo Luijk

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Do trees need to be perfectly vertical in landscape photography?
« on: September 20, 2019, 03:02:28 pm »

Corrected:


Original:


Regards

Bart_van_der_Wolf

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Re: Do trees need to be perfectly vertical in landscape photography?
« Reply #1 on: September 20, 2019, 04:55:17 pm »


Keystone correction helps.

Cheers,
Bart
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Slobodan Blagojevic

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Re: Do trees need to be perfectly vertical in landscape photography?
« Reply #2 on: September 20, 2019, 05:13:49 pm »

Depends on the desired effect.

Take for instance the above image. If the desired effect is a sense of tranquility, then yes.

If, however, the desired effect is dynamism, then getting even lower and closer to the boats, exaggerating the perspective, and putting trees closer to the edge would also work, without straightening them.

Guillermo Luijk

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Re: Do trees need to be perfectly vertical in landscape photography?
« Reply #3 on: September 20, 2019, 05:55:32 pm »

Depends on the desired effect.

Take for instance the above image. If the desired effect is a sense of tranquility, then yes.

If, however, the desired effect is dynamism, then getting even lower and closer to the boats, exaggerating the perspective, and putting trees closer to the edge would also work, without straightening them.
The author of the picture chose the title: "In a peaceful place" ("En un lugar tranquilo"). I pointed him the same as you did regarding the type of picture. He didn't correct the keystone effect, I did.

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Alan Klein

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Re: Do trees need to be perfectly vertical in landscape photography?
« Reply #4 on: September 20, 2019, 09:21:28 pm »

Nice shot.  One thing.  The docks and tied-up boat on the right are tilting to the right due to the wide angle lens and ought to be corrected too.  One of the reasons I like 28mm over 24mm.  The latter tends to keystone where you really notice it.  At least on by Sony RX100iv. 

John R

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Re: Do trees need to be perfectly vertical in landscape photography?
« Reply #5 on: September 23, 2019, 12:56:21 pm »

When we shot slides, no one much cared if some of the elements in an image were tilted or distorted. We only cared if it was a good image and took it for granted the distortion was a result of POV or the lens itself. Also note in the corrected image you lost some of the space between the boat and the edge of the frame. So correcting distortion is not always better.

JR
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Bart_van_der_Wolf

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Re: Do trees need to be perfectly vertical in landscape photography?
« Reply #6 on: September 23, 2019, 04:28:03 pm »

When we shot slides, no one much cared if some of the elements in an image were tilted or distorted. We only cared if it was a good image and took it for granted the distortion was a result of POV or the lens itself. Also note in the corrected image you lost some of the space between the boat and the edge of the frame. So correcting distortion is not always better.

Not always better, but there have been Tilt/Shift lenses in use for a log time, to manage the projection distortion effect (either exaggerate or neutralize to a certain degree).

Cheers,
Bart
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Alan Klein

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Re: Do trees need to be perfectly vertical in landscape photography?
« Reply #7 on: September 23, 2019, 09:35:49 pm »

When we shot slides, no one much cared if some of the elements in an image were tilted or distorted. We only cared if it was a good image and took it for granted the distortion was a result of POV or the lens itself. Also note in the corrected image you lost some of the space between the boat and the edge of the frame. So correcting distortion is not always better.

JR
I agree with Bart above.  ALso, if you're going to correct the left side, you ought to correct the right wide as well.  Otherwise just leave it the way it was. 

Paulo Bizarro

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Re: Do trees need to be perfectly vertical in landscape photography?
« Reply #8 on: October 03, 2019, 11:35:38 am »

Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

In this example, I think it would have been feasible to avoid pointing the camera down, thus avoiding the perspective "effect".

As for the slide use back in the day, I shot plenty of it, and since I had no money for TSE lenses, I tried to keep the camera level when I did not wnat the effect.

JaapD

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Re: Do trees need to be perfectly vertical in landscape photography?
« Reply #9 on: November 06, 2019, 01:34:37 am »

On the corrected image the horizon seems nearly horizontal, however the dock still isn’t. This aspect strikes me most from this very nice image.

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Jaap.
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Slobodan Blagojevic

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Re: Do trees need to be perfectly vertical in landscape photography?
« Reply #10 on: November 06, 2019, 02:01:33 am »

On the corrected image the horizon seems nearly horizontal, however the dock still isn’t...

I think your expectations are wrong in both cases:

1. With lakes and rivers with uneven shores it is almost impossible to determine proper level unless you use a leveled camera

2. The dock is at the edge of the frame and suffers an additional perspective distortion. The best way to illustrate what I mean is wirh railroad tracks. The planks will remain perfectly horizontal only if you stand in the middle and keep the tracks in the middle of the picture. If the tracks are on the side, planks will we tilted.

« Last Edit: November 06, 2019, 08:26:26 am by Slobodan Blagojevic »
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kers

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Re: Do trees need to be perfectly vertical in landscape photography?
« Reply #11 on: November 06, 2019, 08:17:46 am »

+1 for Slobodan- good explanation
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JaapD

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Re: Do trees need to be perfectly vertical in landscape photography?
« Reply #12 on: November 07, 2019, 03:21:47 am »

Hi Slobodan,

Thanks for taking the time to explain, much appreciated! I still don’t quite get it, although I ‘think’ to know a few things about perspective. But let me explain:

With reference to your first image we clearly see that the wooden beams, which are in parallel to the frame, continue to be in parallel and do not bend near the frames’ edges. I would expect this to be equal to the dock. I think your second image does not apply here.

Additionally, I’m pretty sure my 21mm wide angle lens does not have this kind of distortion.

Any possibility to enlighten me, are we talking here about linear perspective or barrel type lens distortion? If it's lens distortion causing the dock to bend than all is clear to me.

Regards,
Jaap.


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Slobodan Blagojevic

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Re: Do trees need to be perfectly vertical in landscape photography?
« Reply #13 on: November 07, 2019, 08:49:07 am »

... With reference to your first image we clearly see that the wooden beams, which are in parallel to the frame, continue to be in parallel and do not bend near the frames’ edges. I would expect this to be equal to the dock. I think your second image does not apply here...

It would be equal to the dock only if you are standing in the very middle of the dock, having the camera perfectly leveled, pointed toward the vanishing point.

Not sure why you think the second image doesn’t apply? It clearly shows what happens when the above isn’t the case, i.e., when the objects are placed at the edges. It gains a second vanishing point. Perhaps if I flip the image to mimic the dock placement it is clearer? And no, it isn’t the barrel distortion, just perspective.

Alan Klein

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Re: Do trees need to be perfectly vertical in landscape photography?
« Reply #14 on: November 07, 2019, 08:55:39 am »

I believe that keystoning happens on the horizontal plane just like it does on the vertical plane when you aim a camera up and the tops of buildings seem to converge.  That's why it's hard sometimes to get the horizon level. 

Eric Myrvaagnes

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Re: Do trees need to be perfectly vertical in landscape photography?
« Reply #15 on: November 07, 2019, 04:47:23 pm »

Slobodan is correct. However, I think the original question is a bit silly. Here is my visual argument:
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kers

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Re: Do trees need to be perfectly vertical in landscape photography?
« Reply #16 on: November 08, 2019, 07:11:49 am »

Slobodan is correct. However, I think the original question is a bit silly. Here is my visual argument:
Is this near Chernobyl? :)
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Alan Klein

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Re: Do trees need to be perfectly vertical in landscape photography?
« Reply #17 on: November 08, 2019, 11:33:37 am »

Perfectly straight.
Stumps 2 by Alan Klein, on Flickr

Eric Myrvaagnes

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Re: Do trees need to be perfectly vertical in landscape photography?
« Reply #18 on: November 08, 2019, 03:20:20 pm »

Is this near Chernobyl? :)
Nope. All in New England.
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Eric Myrvaagnes

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Re: Do trees need to be perfectly vertical in landscape photography?
« Reply #19 on: November 08, 2019, 03:21:31 pm »

Perfectly straight.
Stumps 2 by Alan Klein, on Flickr
Thanks, Alan.
Those are clearly my kind of straight trees.   :D
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