When you shoot architecture and you want a straight photo, with no distortion, like this:
…then you need to do the following:
- Step back. Way back.
- Use a long telephoto lens.
- Do not aim up or down: keep the lens parallel to the ground.
- Consider using a tripod if the lens length is long.
You will now get an “undistorted” picture where the background is enlarged and drawn in to the subject.
I think you should also mention removing distortion using tilt/shift lens or photoshop.
Indeed, and thanks for the suggestion: if you do get converging lines, Photoshop or a very expensive Tilt-Shift lens are the solution. In a future post, I shall explain how to do it.
As long as your lens/camera back are supported, DxO will remove optical distortion automatically based on the actual focal length in the EXIF for the lens in question. A reliable way to guarantee straight lines for architectural shots.
I think we mixed ‘lens distortion’ with ‘perspective’. Lens distortion comes from the lens, perspective comes from using short focal length lens on a close object.
There are 2 kinds of distortion involved here: optical distortion & perspective distortion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distortion_%28optics%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perspective_distortion_%28photography%29
I agree, and while linear distortion (pincushion, barrel) is indeed distortion, you can argue that perspective “distortion” isn’t really distortion. Semantics.