[Kit] Architecture and cityscapes

[MGohzxc]

Its not a term specific to photography but rather a word to describe an occurance where different (sometimes contrasting) elements are being placed together.

OH , okay . I understand now . Like combine elements of light together . Thanks

 

[Kit]

No problem

 

[qwerty628]

Thanks ok, note to self.....

highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows highlights midtones shadows

LOL!:bsmilie:

 

[Kit]

#190

​

 

[soulFLY]

Back to basics.....

#188

​

Beautiful balance of highlights and shadows! Beautiful tonality.

However, severe banding/posterization were observed on the top frame/sky part!

Pushing the contrast too much?

 

[Kit]

Oh? In my screen the top portion is completely dark so I can't detect any but yeah probably pushing the contrast too aggressively.

 

[soulFLY]

Oh? In my screen the top portion is completely dark so I can't detect any but yeah probably pushing the contrast too aggressively.

It fails me too when viewing it on large screen but if you tilt the screen or viewing it on smaller screen; 13" notebook; its very obvious.

Perhaps burning the top part with 'edge burn' tool in SEP will help increase contrast without banding observe...

 

[Kit]

Arrhh ok ok. I've actually darkened the entire image and re-loaded. Thanks!!

 

[r00ki3]

Back to basics.....

#188
​

I'm still trying to get something like this...
like the edited one Kit

 

[Kit]

Thanks but the down side is I've lost more details in the shadowed area on the left shell.

 

[wildcat]

Thanks but the down side is I've lost more details in the shadowed area on the left shell.

But it has highlights midtones shadows x200!

 

[Kit]

#191

#192

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[Kit]

Hong Kong

#193

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[MGohzxc]

#036

#037

#038

#039

#040

Hello Uncle Kit,
I could see that all these pictures are so well taken. Especially all the buildings are so straight. I have a few question to ask:
01) All this are shot with wide angle lens? Do you have alot of lens distortion and correct it during processing?
02) When you try to take all this pictures, do you actually take a few shots fist and look at it if there are too much lens distortion and then move to another point to shoot. So that there will be less lens distortion and than do less processing or correction?
03) If you dont have a choice, do you change your lens to give you less distortion?
04) In order to have less distortion when taking those shots, what do you first must do when you look through the view finder or take some shots to see it first.
05) I want to learn . Please advice me the basic when taking those pictures. Especially buildings.
06) Does a full frame makes a better picture than my camera and is a crop body? Of corse when I use a 10mm it will become 16mm. So maybe is no good?

Thank you.

 

[wildcat]

Hello Uncle Kit,
I could see that all these pictures are so well taken. Especially all the buildings are so straight. I have a few question to ask:
01) All this are shot with wide angle lens? Do you have alot of lens distortion and correct it during processing?
02) When you try to take all this pictures, do you actually take a few shots fist and look at it if there are too much lens distortion and then move to another point to shoot. So that there will be less lens distortion and than do less processing or correction?
03) If you dont have a choice, do you change your lens to give you less distortion?
04) In order to have less distortion when taking those shots, what do you first must do when you look through the view finder or take some shots to see it first.
05) I want to learn . Please advice me the basic when taking those pictures. Especially buildings.
06) Does a full frame makes a better picture than my camera and is a crop body? Of corse when I use a 10mm it will become 16mm. So maybe is no good?

Thank you.

The questions a bit funny. A couple of us learnt about how to correct keystone effect distortions from Kit (using the spirit leveller which I noticed you were also using yesterday). By taking a levelled photo, your buildings should already be straight, without keystone effect.

Sometimes you may want to take a picture which has more sky, for example. The 24mm PC-E tilt-shift lens that Kit uses can move the perspective up to make it look as if you were taking a levelled picture from a crane 20m above the ground (and all the buildings still not suffering from keystone effect).

However judging from your question, you seem to be asking about lens distortion, correct? Lenses, especially ultra wide angles, will suffer from some degree of barrel distortion when they are at their widest and when zoomed in, there could be pincushion distortions. The 14-24mm lens Kit uses, for example, is well known for very good distortion controls.

http://toothwalker.org/optics/distortion.html

Perspective distortion is more because of the distance you are to your subject (think about using a UWA lens to take someone's entire face right in front of him, very distorted correct?), than because of lens. But when you use a 200mm to take his entire face from further distance, it's not distorted, correct?

So when you use an UWA to take a pic of CBD, you can probably get the entire pic from Esplanade there. Whereas if you use a telephoto lens, you will need to be much further away to get the same view - and because you're further away, you get less perspective distortion.

You can read up more about this from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perspective_distortion_%28photography%29


Err... hope I got that right :embrass:
Kit, pls correct me.

 

[- nAstAr -]

Not sure whether this question is for Wildcat or Kit, but let me just ask anyway.

Perspective distortion is more because of the distance you are to your subject (think about using a UWA lens to take someone's entire face right in front of him, very distorted correct?), than because of lens. But when you use a 200mm to take his entire face from further distance, it's not distorted, correct?

So when you use an UWA to take a pic of CBD, you can probably get the entire pic from Esplanade there. Whereas if you use a telephoto lens, you will need to be much further away to get the same view - and because you're further away, you get less perspective distortion.

I understand about the effect of distance and perspective distortion, which is applicable to most of the photos above, except #038.
On #038 we can see that the HDB columns and the high rise buildings are all straight, even though there’s a big distance between those two towards the camera.
How to avoid perspective distortion for multiple objects with distance variations?

Thanks
- nAstAr -

 

[night86mare]

Not sure whether this question is for Wildcat or Kit, but let me just ask anyway.


I understand about the effect of distance and perspective distortion, which is applicable to most of the photos above, except #038.
On #038 we can see that the HDB columns and the high rise buildings are all straight, even though there’s a big distance between those two towards the camera.
How to avoid perspective distortion for multiple objects with distance variations?

Thanks
- nAstAr -

i'm not sure if the explanations have been very clear.

there are 3 variations of distortions, when the term is used in photography.

the first is a lens characteristic. this one is either barrel or pincushion distortion , former usually attributable to WA, latter to telephoto. this means that if you shoot with a spirit level, and the level is level, and you are shooting a grid that is perfectly vertical, and has gridlines that are perfectly horizontal... then the lens will not produce nice straight lines throughout the frame.

the next has to do with how parallel your sensor (in the cam) is to lines present in the world. if your sensor is vertically parallel to buildilngs, near or far... and this is achieveable with help of spirit level... then all buildings will be straight. simple as that.

for vertical perspective distortion or horizontal perpective distortion, you can position yourself near a window. if you are standing at angle to window, you will notice that the bottom ledge doesn't seem exactly straight - this is because the ledge is coming towards you, or going away from you. some sort of parallax error. similarly when you look up, the two sides of the window will converge at the top.

the last has to do with focal length. wide angles tend to emphasize closer objects. for example, if you see a typical UWA seascape, the rocks are many times the size of the sky. this is obviously not the case in reality. if you shoot with a focal length undesirable for the distance you are from a human subject, then you will get a slightly bloated face - not everyone will notice it, but when you see it enough, you will see it everywhere, especially in clubsnap P&P. this doesn't really apply in landscapes, actually.

something more you can read:
http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3838320&postcount=2

 

[Gerald Lam CK]

Hello Uncle Kit,
I could see that all these pictures are so well taken. Especially all the buildings are so straight. I have a few question to ask:
01) All this are shot with wide angle lens? Do you have alot of lens distortion and correct it during processing?
02) When you try to take all this pictures, do you actually take a few shots fist and look at it if there are too much lens distortion and then move to another point to shoot. So that there will be less lens distortion and than do less processing or correction?
03) If you dont have a choice, do you change your lens to give you less distortion?
04) In order to have less distortion when taking those shots, what do you first must do when you look through the view finder or take some shots to see it first.
05) I want to learn . Please advice me the basic when taking those pictures. Especially buildings.
06) Does a full frame makes a better picture than my camera and is a crop body? Of corse when I use a 10mm it will become 16mm. So maybe is no good?

Thank you.

hihi..may i ask for pic #38, will you be able to see sunset and what hdb block is that?

 

[wildcat]

i'm not sure if the explanations have been very clear.
http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3838320&postcount=2

Yep, thanks for helping to clarify

 

[Kit]

The questions a bit funny. A couple of us learnt about how to correct keystone effect distortions from Kit (using the spirit leveller which I noticed you were also using yesterday). By taking a levelled photo, your buildings should already be straight, without keystone effect.

Sometimes you may want to take a picture which has more sky, for example. The 24mm PC-E tilt-shift lens that Kit uses can move the perspective up to make it look as if you were taking a levelled picture from a crane 20m above the ground (and all the buildings still not suffering from keystone effect).

However judging from your question, you seem to be asking about lens distortion, correct? Lenses, especially ultra wide angles, will suffer from some degree of barrel distortion when they are at their widest and when zoomed in, there could be pincushion distortions. The 14-24mm lens Kit uses, for example, is well known for very good distortion controls.

http://toothwalker.org/optics/distortion.html

Perspective distortion is more because of the distance you are to your subject (think about using a UWA lens to take someone's entire face right in front of him, very distorted correct?), than because of lens. But when you use a 200mm to take his entire face from further distance, it's not distorted, correct?

So when you use an UWA to take a pic of CBD, you can probably get the entire pic from Esplanade there. Whereas if you use a telephoto lens, you will need to be much further away to get the same view - and because you're further away, you get less perspective distortion.

You can read up more about this from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perspective_distortion_%28photography%29


Err... hope I got that right :embrass:
Kit, pls correct me.

i'm not sure if the explanations have been very clear.

there are 3 variations of distortions, when the term is used in photography.

the first is a lens characteristic. this one is either barrel or pincushion distortion , former usually attributable to WA, latter to telephoto. this means that if you shoot with a spirit level, and the level is level, and you are shooting a grid that is perfectly vertical, and has gridlines that are perfectly horizontal... then the lens will not produce nice straight lines throughout the frame.

the next has to do with how parallel your sensor (in the cam) is to lines present in the world. if your sensor is vertically parallel to buildilngs, near or far... and this is achieveable with help of spirit level... then all buildings will be straight. simple as that.

for vertical perspective distortion or horizontal perpective distortion, you can position yourself near a window. if you are standing at angle to window, you will notice that the bottom ledge doesn't seem exactly straight - this is because the ledge is coming towards you, or going away from you. some sort of parallax error. similarly when you look up, the two sides of the window will converge at the top.

the last has to do with focal length. wide angles tend to emphasize closer objects. for example, if you see a typical UWA seascape, the rocks are many times the size of the sky. this is obviously not the case in reality. if you shoot with a focal length undesirable for the distance you are from a human subject, then you will get a slightly bloated face - not everyone will notice it, but when you see it enough, you will see it everywhere, especially in clubsnap P&P. this doesn't really apply in landscapes, actually.

something more you can read:
http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3838320&postcount=2

To clarify, it was me who asked wildcat to answer the questions on my behalf as I was tied down with work.

and thanks night86mare for chipping in as well

I will try to elaborate on ways to minimise distortions later in the day..... though a hands on session would be great.