Lazy Man's HDR

[ladyups]

I call this lazy man's cause all I did was adjust the settings in Camera RAW. I like how it really brought out the red door and made the fog blue. This was taken with my kit wide angle lens. Do all wide angles distort the buildings? Or is it just my lens?

http://i619.photobucket.com/albums/tt271/ladyups/PoorMansHDR.jpg

[Pat]

Hi Mary. Nice image. Love the hue of the stonework.
Yes all wide angle lenses, with the exception of very expensive tilt-shift lenses, will produce distortion. There are two types of distortion involved. First there is perspective distortion, where objects closer to the lens seem disproportionally larger in relation to more distant objects. Secondly, you'll get a degree of barrel distortion, wherein the pic will show a bit of "bulge", as if the image has been wrapped around a sphere.
With long lenes you get a perspective distortion where the image appears compressed. You will also get a degree of "pincushion distortion", where the image appears to be pinched in the center.
Barrel and pincushion distortions are easily corrected in post production. Photoshop, Elements and Gimp include manual distortion correction.

[jerryph]

It's not really an HDR becuase it was made from 1 exposure (true HDR uses at least 2 or more of the same shot taken at different exposures).

That said, I really like the shot, and your post processing makes this a VERY pleasant shot to look at.

As far as wide angle lenses... most do distort to some level, but this is correctable in post processing.

[ladyups]

That would be so true, Jerry....that's why I called it the lazy man's HDR. :D

I don't have any inclination to try HDR...just getting shots taken that are properly exposed is all I'm chasing after.

Thanks for the look and the kudos.

[ladyups]

Hi Mary. Nice image. Love the hue of the stonework.
Yes all wide angle lenses, with the exception of very expensive tilt-shift lenses, will produce distortion. There are two types of distortion involved. First there is perspective distortion, where objects closer to the lens seem disproportionally larger in relation to more distant objects. Secondly, you'll get a degree of barrel distortion, wherein the pic will show a bit of "bulge", as if the image has been wrapped around a sphere.
With long lenses you get a perspective distortion where the image appears compressed. You will also get a degree of "pincushion distortion", where the image appears to be pinched in the center.
Barrel and pincushion distortions are easily corrected in post production. Photoshop, Elements and Gimp include manual distortion correction.

Thanks, Pat, for explaining this to me...glad to know I don't just have a junk lens.

[johnnya]

I love this picture. Nice color and the bit of fog in the background gives it a "Sunday" look and feel.