Perspective Correction

Larger Image

Image: 5D Mk III, EF 24-70 f/2.8L II, 24mm, f/11 at 1/60 sec.

Perspective correction is something we come up against whenever architectural elements are the subject matter of a photograph. This image of the lighthouse in Mukilteo is a good example. Looking at this image subjectively some will say the image should be fully corrected and some will say it would look un-natural that way. I believe a certain amount of distortion is acceptable and appears more natural.  

Other issues with correction are reduced resolution due to crop and sharpness loss from the correction itself, for these reasons I always try to minimize distortion correction, the original size of the image was 5760 x 3840 and the fully corrected image is 5399 x 3712, not a huge change. One last thing to keep in mind is your field of view, the fully corrected image lost a lot of foreground detail (flowers, pathway).

Lightroom5 lens correction panel - for fully corrected image

 

None corrected for perspective

Fully corrected for perspective

Ross

Images In Light