what's up with this horizon?

[Aperture Nine]

Get a copy of PTLENS... you can try it with 10 of your own pictures before paying and it is cheap. PTLENS correct images automatically using a table of known lenses. Results are good and the correction is a 2 sec operation. You get is as both a standalone program and a Photoshop plug-in.

[draskol]

Originally Posted by wulf

It can be a pain but you can also learn to use it as a feature.

Wulf

Agreed! Here's a shot I took at 18 mm this past weekend. When I went to convert it from RAW to JPEG in PS, I actually added even more "Lens Distortion":



Note to anyone following this discussion: I've noticed that the Lens Distortion option isn't available in JPEGs - I've had to do it with the RAW files. It's possible that I'm just missing something in PS, or it's possible that shooting in RAW is the only way to take advantage of this feature.

[PhotoNewt]

Originally Posted by draskol

...I've noticed that the Lens Distortion option isn't available in JPEGs - I've had to do it with the RAW files. It's possible that I'm just missing something in PS, or it's possible that shooting in RAW is the only way to take advantage of this feature.

Shooting RAW allows for more options and flexibility when making corrections on white balance, exposure and other parameters, lens distorsion correction is only one of those. It adds one more step on your post processing workflow but to me is well worth it (mostly since I don't shoot hundreds of images anymore).

[frad-ster]

Originally Posted by PhotoNewt

While that is true the whole point of photography is not create a picture in Photoshop but rather to create one in the camera. In order to do that you need to learn how the camera see light, how particular lenses give different perspectives and their particular flaws so you can avoid or exploit those when needed.

Thank you for clarifying. I should have mentioned that PS is a PART OF THE CREATION rather than just saying CREATE. Moreover, and to add emphasis...I agree wholey about being a photographer first and a PS guru second. As PhotoNewt said, spend the time setting your shots up correctly before you worry about the post processing. Then, when the shot out of the camera is good, do what every good photographer does - make some changes in the darkroom of PS to enhance the already "good" image.

[private]

Please also remember (forgive me if this has been sd, I did not read the whole post ) that PP is like the digital darkroom. People use to do color selection (granted they physically had to paint in the color) and dodging and burning was acieved my over/under exposing part of the image in purpose. Different film created different looks...

The good photographers of yesteryear rarely gave a client a photo, "straight out of the camera..."(at least my grandfather never did)

So, to answer your question. No, its not cheating - art is art. Now, if you are just taking a snapshot or doing photojournalism - doing the "fancy" stuff is cheating.

[renzdurano]

The pictures look so good to look at...! especially the second one...!