I am trying to take a picture of a project I made on 24" x 24" canvas. When I go to crop it, the photo is always uneven on top and bottom and/or side to side. I try as hard as I can to make sure it is straight before I take it, but it always ends up crooked when I see it. When I rotate or crop it, I have to cut off some or leave the sides with a background showing (or vice versa). How do you take a perfectly square picture of something?
Thanks in advance for your help! It will be greatly appreciated.
Meg
I have in the past been asked to photograph some works of art for recording purposes and I simply aimed it all up as best as I could and then cropped it and I had to lose a little of the edge. It certainly wasn't perfect but it worked for what I wanted.
Sorry I can't help, but there was one of the really cool intelligent photogs on this site who once described the problem you are facing in regards to the bendy sides.
I do have a photog friend who works at a Gallery in Australia and his full time job is to photograph art. I might ask him.
Would be interesting to see the image you are trying to operate on. As for alignment you have to start being perfectly parallel to the vertical and the horizontal planes of the image. If you aren't and still require alignment, you need to invoke an editor and operate with the vertical and horizontal perspective corrections, or with newer products, there can be single click correction options. The "upright" tool in Lightroom 5.3 and Camera Raw CC for instance. Some lenses, the wide angle ones and especially fisheye will always appear to have converging lines; that is often the attraction of the lenses.
Perspective corrections can be fine, but you do need to know that you might have to allow for this since things get "squashed" and you might have some cropping to do.
Is the problem from camera distortion? I don't know what editing program you use, but in Photoshop there is an adjustment where you can correct for camera distortion.
@megmills I use a tripod and a small portable level. It tells me if the item I am shooting is level, and if the camera on the tripod is level. So handy to throw into the camera bag.
If possible use a focal length of 50mm or above to avoid distortion. Leave a small border around the canvas, then straighten, fix perspective, and crop in post processing.
Depending on your camera, you may have the option of a grid showing on the display screen. This can help. You may also be able to adjust the grid to the size you want so that when you take the photo, it's perfectly balanced and centred.
When I was shooting pill bottles for my company's website, I would shoot as straight on as possible (and with extra room in the margins) and then use the skew/transform tools in Photoshop, along with guide lines, to stretch the photo straight. When all sides line up, then crop.
I know, the question was how to TAKE a straight picture, but I think this is more likely to get perfect results.
I use the grid lines to level the shot before I take it, but they more often than not end up crooked. If I straighten the shot post production I loose some clarity.
If you use a tripod & shutter delay & preferably a remote control you will get the grid lines level. It also helps to know the focal length(s) at which your camera has no barrel or pincushion distortion as that will minimise your PP work.
I agree with @frankhymus that it could be some distortion in the lens. Wider lens and some kit lens are even more noticeable. If you have lightroom or photoshop it can be corrected.
I haven't read through all the other comments, but you could also stand further back/zoom out a little extra, so that any cropping/rotating won't cut out what you want! Good luck!
As everyone mentioned above, you are probably getting both perspective and lens distortion.
To reduce perspective distortion, shoot from a distance. To make an ideal copy of something, you really need to take an image of it at each point/pixel perpendicular to it. Kinda like a photocopier. However, with a camera, light collects at one point so not everything is perpendicular to the lens. By increasing the distance from the subject, perspective distortion decrease. Think of putting your eye really close to the canvas (say a few inches). Everything looks distorted. As you move farther away from the item, the canvas looks more normal.
Lens distortion is unique to each lens and software within LR and Photoshop can correct that.
Shooting a tad wider will allow you room to crop.
In addition, using a tripod and tethering your camera to a computer will help you set up the shot and see the image on a bigger screen.
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Sorry I can't help, but there was one of the really cool intelligent photogs on this site who once described the problem you are facing in regards to the bendy sides.
I do have a photog friend who works at a Gallery in Australia and his full time job is to photograph art. I might ask him.
Perspective corrections can be fine, but you do need to know that you might have to allow for this since things get "squashed" and you might have some cropping to do.
But really, why worry about it if you can straighten it up afterwards………….
I know, the question was how to TAKE a straight picture, but I think this is more likely to get perfect results.
As everyone mentioned above, you are probably getting both perspective and lens distortion.
To reduce perspective distortion, shoot from a distance. To make an ideal copy of something, you really need to take an image of it at each point/pixel perpendicular to it. Kinda like a photocopier. However, with a camera, light collects at one point so not everything is perpendicular to the lens. By increasing the distance from the subject, perspective distortion decrease. Think of putting your eye really close to the canvas (say a few inches). Everything looks distorted. As you move farther away from the item, the canvas looks more normal.
Lens distortion is unique to each lens and software within LR and Photoshop can correct that.
Shooting a tad wider will allow you room to crop.
In addition, using a tripod and tethering your camera to a computer will help you set up the shot and see the image on a bigger screen.