Hamltnblue Loc: Springfield PA

Excellent Job, Thanks

Hamltnblue Loc: Springfield PA

Thanks Larry
Something else for me to try for sure.
Looks like the window is closed for a couple of weeks since the moon is out now. it will give me time to get ready.
I'll also review the transform portion of post. I've only used it for straightening photos and never went farther than that.

Hamltnblue Loc: Springfield PA

I'm sure the application can be done for a few Hundred but I've had this lens since they released it. It is tack sharp for general wide applications like down town city shots and bridges that I've used it for. I will be trying some more astro photo's in the coming months. If I get hooked, a 1.8 or 2.8 fixed 14 would probably be considered. The mention of doing a Pano might be worth it as well.

The only thing that would probably keep me from getting too heavy in to it is my location. Being close to the city means a decent amount of travel time to get a good sky shot.
Late night, sunrise and sunset shots have been what have been keeping me busy for a while. Always looking to try something else.

AndyH Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire

That's creative. And a good value as well.

Andy

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

This is not a lens profile issue.
It is a perspective issue.
Photo Shop has a easy correction for this.
Some of the picture is lost but that is life.
In the future for this type of shot leave room at the sides and lots at the top to allow for the cropping that is done to correct the perspective.
Again, no profile setting will change this.

tcthome Loc: NJ

Beautiful work.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

The distortion correction can only do so much. Especially the wider you shoot, say at the 14 mm end vs. the 30 mm end.
I do final stuff in the retouch menu or in post.
No camera can do it all automatically.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

Distortion and perspective are 2 different things. The issue here is perspective not distortion.

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

It has already been said, when wide angle lenses are tilted distortions take place. Software corrections, as you have seen not always do a good job.
If you have Photoshop a pretty good correction using Adjustments>Perspective can be done. This is the image after the correction was made.

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R.G. Loc: Scotland

After considering lens correction and perspective corrections don't forget about the possibility that you may have tilt as well. The best reference to use is a known vertical at or close to the centre of the image. If your flagpole is reliably vertical you could use that. Going by that reference the image would appear to be tilted anticlockwise a bit. The right hand corner of the lighthouse appears to be tilted slightly clockwise in the corrected posted images, but I notice it's a drainpipe so it may be tilted in reality.

Lens corrections should be done first if you have them as an option. It would be better to correct any tilt before you attempt any perspective corrections. The upward tilt looks fairly extreme and the focal length is relatively short so expect the required perspective corrections to be extreme.

If you can do composites you could try taking one shot of the horizon and lighthouse with the camera horizontal, and a separate shot of the sky taken at a more upward angle to fill the frame better. There's lots of room for "cheating" (i.e. manipulation). You've probably noticed the stretching that the perspective tool introduces causes softness in the same way that excessive cropping does. If you do anything that stretches the data a lot, the IQ will suffer. A shot of the stars that doesn't involve stretching will give you the best results.

If you can do composites as described above, another possibility is multiple exposures of the sky. The stars don't move relative to each other, and aligning the images will take care of the earth's rotation. The shutter speed in each of the exposures can be relatively short so the trails will be relatively short too. I haven't tried that technique myself but I suspect it would be easier if you keep the horizon out of the frame and fill the frame with just sky. The merging process will cancel any ISO noise and should help you to get good, strong colours.

harry-j

I've used the in-camera distortion and perspective control for immediate results in field... giving me the opportunity to make subtle adjustments for better results.
You'll find it in the Retouch Menu.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Built-in lens corrections apply only to jpegs processed by the camera, and only apply to pincushion/barrel/complex distortion, CA and vignetting for the most part. It corrects for lens flaws, not content, though some cameras provide weak tools to attempt to correct mild keystoning.

What you are seeing cannot be corrected by lens profiles. It is called keystoning, and it happens whenever you have a lens that is not parallel to the object you are shooting. This creates another vanishing point and when mild looks perfectly acceptable, but when you use an ultrawide lens and your tilt angle is great, you will get that illusion of buildings and structures leaning in towards each other. In reality, they are leaning towards the vanishing point. In your image, your lens is tilted up a lot.

Another example of this kind of distortion that you don't even need a camera for is to look down a set of railroad tracks. The two rails appear to meet in the distance, even though you know they don't.

Good software correction will include a height adjustment to keep things "in perspective" (pun fully intended). Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw is ok but for really good, realistic keystone correction I'd have to say DXO Viewpoint is the absolute best. It also deals with another aberration that others don't - the volume deformation that occurs with very wide lenses where round objects near the corners become deformed - egg-shaped - and enlarged. DXO corrects pretty well for that in Viewpoint.

At the end of the day, the best way to correct for keystoning is to use a lens with a shift feature.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

Here's another attempt to correct the image using the "transform, perspective" tool in Photoshop.

The first image shows what happens when only the correction is applies and the image is left uncropped.

The second example shows a cropped version where a lot of the sky is "lost", but as much as possible of the original "flavor" of the image was retained by changing the orientation to vertical.

These don't completely eliminate the "tilt" to either the building or the flag pole. That would have required an severe adjustment and even heavier cropping.

Neither of these correct some "coma" that's occurring in some of the stars, most strongly toward the edges of the image. I think that's some of the distortion Gene51 is referring to in his response above.

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Nicholas DeSciose

Consider using a tilt shift lens. Sometimes referred to as PC perspective correction. Nikon makes a terrific 19 mm one. There’s no magic just hard work experience and practicing. A lot of terrific correction devices in Photoshop. A lot of the replies you got are not accurate. Practice practice practice

fetzler Loc: North West PA

Stitching a panorama would be difficult as the stars move and the exposures long.

Some wide angle lenses have comma distortion. I understand the Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 IF ED UMC is very good for this type of photo graph. Rent or borrow to make a comparison.