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Puzzled by distortion in this photo
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Sep 28, 2016 17:16:21   #
LiamRowan Loc: Michigan
 
Al Freeedman wrote:
You did not mention the focal length of the lens. Do the picture over and have her
put her right hand in her pocket. Better yet, send her here to South Carolina and I'll re-do the picture for you.

Captain Al


3rd post on first page:

I used a 24-105mm lens at 45mm.

Thanks for your thoughts and observations. The post seems to have generated some unexpected differences in viewpoint.

Reply
Sep 30, 2016 17:51:28   #
Abo
 
Liam, some say a the focal length and distance to subject is too short.
some say the problem is an optical illusion.

I believe it is a combination of both factors.

Unfortunately a third factor is contributing
to the huge hand... Please excuse me for
saying so, but your beautiful wife needs to
eat more.

Reply
Dec 14, 2016 13:43:39   #
Shootist Loc: Wyoming
 
I would say that the hand proportion is an optical illusion. A normal hand will be about as long from wrist to finger tip as the distance from the chin to the middle of the forehead. This seems to be about what this picture of your wife shows. I suspect that what others have said about lighting, contrast and perspective are what makes the hand appear to be larger than life. Note that the second photo also shows her hand to be about the same respective size to her face.

Reply
 
 
Dec 14, 2016 23:31:46   #
mper812 Loc: Atlanta GA area
 
Her right hand is the same size as left. The left is in profile with a relatively light background and the right hand is open and spread on a black background. Very common illusion and in future shots keep this in mind. I agree that the veins in her arms are a bit distracting but that is just my taste,. The shot is well framed and the color and focus are very good. There are some third party apps which are for portrait adjustments which could soften the skin and smooth out the veins.

Reply
Dec 15, 2016 06:22:50   #
waegwan Loc: Mae Won Li
 
LiamRowan wrote:
Thank you all for the insight and opinions. I play to return to the stairwell and take a few shots with different focal lengths and different angles to see what happens.


As some have suggested probably the lens is too wide; 45 is moving toward the wide side on a full frame camera. It will be interesting to see what you come up with on a reshoot. :)

Reply
Dec 15, 2016 10:14:24   #
boberic Loc: Quiet Corner, Connecticut. Ex long Islander
 
LiamRowan wrote:
This is my wife. I snapped this photo of her in a stairwell that had cool glass showing the outside light and trees yesterday.

Note her right hand, which looks enormous compared to how it looks in reality. What baffles me is that it is right up against her leg, not held out significantly closer to the camera. The window bars are square in reality, but in the image they taper at the bottom and widen to the top. Is that a hint as to what is causing the distortion in the size of the hand? My thinking is that the window bars appear to be getting closer together because they are progressively farther from the lens, so why would the hand do the opposite? Sure am confused . . .

6D, ISO 640, f5, 1/125
This is my wife. I snapped this photo of her in a... (show quote)


If you look at the vertical lines of the glass block they are not really vertical. The lens was pointed slightly up. This leads to perspective problems.

Reply
Dec 15, 2016 12:30:13   #
Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska
 
The perspective is the result of distance, not focal length and not angles. The angles do help to create "optical illusions" though, so adjustment there may have significant effect on the image.

Back off to twice the distance from the subject and the perspective problems will change dramatically. The image can either be cropped, or because the lens being used is a zoom it can be reframed by changing the focal length.

Reply
 
 
Dec 15, 2016 19:53:33   #
bdk Loc: Sanibel Fl.
 
here I solved it, no worries, also a few other touch ups.



Reply
Dec 15, 2016 20:08:52   #
LiamRowan Loc: Michigan
 
The thread seems to have come to life again.

I will be re-shooting and will post, but not til next spring, as the outside color behind the stairwell windows is now pretty drab.

There have been a couple comments about the veins. My wife is 68 yrs old, and she prefers that I don't touch up her photos, other than a little bit to take the edge off the sharpness thanks to good quality lenses (small amount of skin softener).

I very much appreciate all the time hogs have spent offering different perspectives. I'm looking forward to a second try at this location.

PS. Last year I took a photo of her outside and that particular lighting resulted in a lot of shadows in the fine lines on her face, making her look much more wrinkled than "in real." She looked at the photo and was furious, insisting that I took it with a 100mm macro. HAHA!

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Dec 21, 2016 17:39:51   #
kenArchi Loc: Seal Beach, CA
 
Try again with the camera very level and straight. And use reflectors to bounce back lighting to soften lines and shadows. Cover your lens with a stocking or let it sit a few days to collect some dust on the front lens
, this will soften the photo.
Try again, and try again.....
Hard light from one direction you get Hard shadows.

Reply
Dec 31, 2016 15:42:42   #
canon Lee
 
David in Dallas wrote:
The OP did say that the right hand was resting on her thigh, not extended toward the camera. I think the answer is simply that a wide-angle lens was used and therefore the camera was too close to the subject--this causes a severe exaggeration of depth in the picture, with items closer to the camera looking much larger than one would expect. The subject was standing with the right hip angled toward the camera, bringing that hand much closer to the lens than the left hand. Use a longer lens or have the subject stand square to the camera.
The OP did say that the right hand was resting on ... (show quote)


Repose and shoot at a longer focal length.. use spot metering so that only the face is really in pin point focus. Its a lovely portrait and you can crop out the hand and bring the attention to her face and hair.

Reply
 
 
Jan 11, 2017 03:34:18   #
jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ
 
LiamRowan wrote:
This is my wife. I snapped this photo of her in a stairwell that had cool glass showing the outside light and trees yesterday.

Note her right hand, which looks enormous compared to how it looks in reality. What baffles me is that it is right up against her leg, not held out significantly closer to the camera. The window bars are square in reality, but in the image they taper at the bottom and widen to the top. Is that a hint as to what is causing the distortion in the size of the hand? My thinking is that the window bars appear to be getting closer together because they are progressively farther from the lens, so why would the hand do the opposite? Sure am confused . . .

6D, ISO 640, f5, 1/125
This is my wife. I snapped this photo of her in a... (show quote)


I would have to say it's the focal length you selected. 45mm
Try 105mm and stand a little further back.

Reply
Feb 23, 2017 18:08:58   #
speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho
 
LiamRowan wrote:
This is my wife. I snapped this photo of her in a stairwell that had cool glass showing the outside light and trees yesterday.

Note her right hand, which looks enormous compared to how it looks in reality. What baffles me is that it is right up against her leg, not held out significantly closer to the camera. The window bars are square in reality, but in the image they taper at the bottom and widen to the top. Is that a hint as to what is causing the distortion in the size of the hand? My thinking is that the window bars appear to be getting closer together because they are progressively farther from the lens, so why would the hand do the opposite? Sure am confused . . .

6D, ISO 640, f5, 1/125
This is my wife. I snapped this photo of her in a... (show quote)

It obviously also has to do with the location of your camera at the time of exposure. If you think of focal length used, the overall composition of the set and where your camera is sitting, the natural perspective on how converging lines be displayed (considering all that's been said), this should not be a surprise, but just the "norm" (sort of, as some lenses fair better than others), but only to certain degrees!!!

Reply
Apr 17, 2017 06:23:50   #
joer Loc: Colorado/Illinois
 
LiamRowan wrote:
This is my wife. I snapped this photo of her in a stairwell that had cool glass showing the outside light and trees yesterday.

Note her right hand, which looks enormous compared to how it looks in reality. What baffles me is that it is right up against her leg, not held out significantly closer to the camera. The window bars are square in reality, but in the image they taper at the bottom and widen to the top. Is that a hint as to what is causing the distortion in the size of the hand? My thinking is that the window bars appear to be getting closer together because they are progressively farther from the lens, so why would the hand do the opposite? Sure am confused . . .

6D, ISO 640, f5, 1/125
This is my wife. I snapped this photo of her in a... (show quote)


The camera was slightly below the subject. Raise it up and align better.

Reply
Jul 24, 2017 18:48:09   #
boberic Loc: Quiet Corner, Connecticut. Ex long Islander
 
LiamRowan wrote:
This is my wife. I snapped this photo of her in a stairwell that had cool glass showing the outside light and trees yesterday.

Note her right hand, which looks enormous compared to how it looks in reality. What baffles me is that it is right up against her leg, not held out significantly closer to the camera. The window bars are square in reality, but in the image they taper at the bottom and widen to the top. Is that a hint as to what is causing the distortion in the size of the hand? My thinking is that the window bars appear to be getting closer together because they are progressively farther from the lens, so why would the hand do the opposite? Sure am confused . . .

6D, ISO 640, f5, 1/125
This is my wife. I snapped this photo of her in a... (show quote)


I think that the camera as pointed up a touch, this will cause distortion.

Reply
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