How to fix a leaning tower??

[hughh87]

Camera: Nikon Coolpix L18
Exposure: 0.3
Aperture: f/3.9
Focal Length: 12.3 mm
ISO Speed: 800

Took this with my son's point and shoot on a recent trip to London. I had to rest the camera against a gate and use the shutter timer, then guess when to hit the button so it fired as a bus came by. I don't know who that woman is in the shot as she stepped in front of me just as I hit the button. Anyway, she makes the shot for me but it seems off with Big Ben leaning. Is there anyway to take a shot like this so the tower doesn't lean or do I have to correct somehow later? Thanks.

[barabe]

very simple, take the shot into any PP software and rotate the shot and re crop.

I think it is a great shot and true that the lady makes the shot different and the light streak from the bus is a great plus too.

[Sterling]

It might not be quite that simple. Because the tower is so close to the edge, by rotating it you are going to end up with the tower right right against the edge or maybe even slightly cut off. If that's the case, I'd leave it as is.

Neat shot,btw.

[LenDog]

The tower wouldn't be cut off if straightened in PP, but it would be very close to the edge of the frame. In terms of RO3 not good, but who cares - the bus and the woman that stepped into the picture are great and the tower being close to the edge of the frame wouldn't keep this from being a keeper.

That said, the answer to the first part of the question (Is there anyway to take a shot like this so the tower doesn't lean?) is to make sure the scene is level before you hit the shutter. Suspect you were using the LCD for this one, try the viewfinder next time.

[Sterling]

Of course, you can't rotate the tower without rotating the woman. I'd rather see a crooked tower than a crooked woman.

I don't think it's a matter of being level (the woman would be leaning if it wasn't level). It's a result of vertical distortion from pointing the camera up toward the tower. Other than correcting it in PP would be to only shoot with the camera pointed exactly horizontally rather than tilted up or down.

[IainM]

I think the tower looks fine, the only reason it appears leaning is that it is following a perspective line, if you tilted to compensate the rest of the photo would look off.
Its a great shot just as it is... well done.

[barabe]

Sory to bust your bubble guys but the tower is crooked, take it into photoshop or into any other pp program and measure it. It is true also that using the perspective tool could probaply work miracles on this shot if well used .

[tickintime]

Is this not the proper place for a tilt shift lens? They correct perspective distortion, no? Not that this is an option with a P&S

[edbayani]

the best would be to use tilt shift lens but you're using a ps camera and can't turn back the time to get exactly the same shot. the shot is very good but the only way to correct this is by pp using photoshop. rotate and extend the image to the vacant areas caused by rotating using the rubber stamp tool, or by selecting with the rectangular tool feathered by 1 pixel the area nearest the vacant are and press ctrl/alt to copy the selected area and move to the vacant area.

[hughh87]

Thanks for all the feedback. I'll try to "fix" in software and see what happens. Now that I look at it closer, I might try another perspective too. I wonder if moving to the other side of the street might help the tower??? I would like to take the shot again sometime with a tripod and my DSLR.