Verticals

[swedg]

Is there any rule of thumb for choosing which vertical to make vertical in a perspective shot? This one is nothing special, but it feels a little tippy no matter how I adjust it. Decided to concentrate on the l.h. edge of the main structure (where it angles) as being the focal point and main mass. But it still doesn't seem quite right.

[offwhitedog]

do you specifically want to keep the perspective feel? if not, why not simply adjust the perspective so that all the verticals are, um, vertical?
sorry if it's a dumb question, maybe I'm missing something

[swedg]

Maybe I'm missing something simple, but I've been noticing lots of different degrees of verticality in shots like this as the perspective recedes. Here all the lines on the garage left seem to lean to the right, and the lamppost on the right is leaning left. Even the verticals on the courthouse are not parallel. Curvature of the lens? I'm pointing-and-shooting, but maybe finding a narrower angle/longer lens setting would help?

[LoveDSLR]

Originally Posted by swedg

Decided to concentrate on the l.h. edge of the main structure (where it angles) as being the focal point and main mass. But it still doesn't seem quite right.

Some vertical can be fixed with post processing.

Originally Posted by swedg

Maybe I'm missing something simple, but I've been noticing lots of different degrees of verticality in shots like this as the perspective recedes.

Read about Perspective control lenses. Perspective control lens - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[swedg]

So you can just pick up the whole parking structure and rotate it? That's good! Afraid I can't do much about acquiring PC lenses, but that implies a lot of the problem is in the curvature of my small lens?

[offwhitedog]

Converging verticals happens with just about all lenses, it's not because yours is small or in some way unusual. Perspective control lenses are the spe******t tool for reducing this effect but are expensive. But as you can see above, it's easy to alter the image on a computer to fix this.

[swedg]

So I think my first question stands. I'm trying to find a line or surface to represent "vertical" and thus stabilize the composition. I thought probably the central block? Maybe that doesn't work? Or should I look for a compromise?

[swedg]

And thanks to you all, by the way, for trying to show/explain for me. Problem I'm recently more aware of.

[LeeR]

The problem you raise is worst when you have a lot of angles that are close but not quite vertical. You will notice in some extreme wide angle shots that lines are often not only off vertical, but in some cases exhibit some curvature and yet it doesn't appear bothersome. One of the things you might do in this situation is to intentionally skew EVERYTHING. What if you were to shoot this same shot at a 20° angle? Yes, it would have a slightly different composition, but no one would complain about which lines were vertical.

[sk66]

You can't choose any one line if there are many. You need to fix in post (filters>distort> lens distortion in PS) or use a PC lens...but with the advent of the software I found the lenses and cost too restrictive..better to fix in post.