Friday, November 12, 2010

Perspective Control

Shots from a recent interior work for Narai Hotel located in Bangkok, Thailand.  Naturally, for interior and architecture work I would use either a technical camera or DSLR system with perspective control lenes and  for this work due to the final requirement of image does not require larrge print, so I took use a compact Canon 5DII (also to shoot 360 degree QTVR using Seitz VR Drive) and the PC-E lenses Canon currently carries, namely the 17mm, 24mm, 45mm and 90mm.
As an intering alternative, Hasselblad also re-introduce its former PC Mutar T* 1.4X (first of which in the world, to my knowledge) with the now reknown HTS 1.5 (offer both shift and tilt movement however it is movement is no independent as the new Canon TS-E lense did and perhaps Hasselblad might have a HTS 1.5.2 at works? - would be even more useful.
Coming back to the acronym of PC, one might refer it as perspective correct or more creatively to call it perspective control, with the later my prefer term and use of PC lenses.
One may pre-occupy with the idea that for interior or architecture work that the converging line needed to be corrected so they appear parallel; yes, but perhaps not always.   Human eye of course has an excellent optical and neual system that we can register complicated architecture form mostly correctly, wihtout needing mechanical shift like on the old fashion photography - which is to say the possible devleopment of independent glass movement in a lens may deliver even better result, but such development might targeted to a market so small that will cost too much that make itself becomes unfeasible, perhaps only time would tell and we may know sooner than later than we think.  Anyway, our eyes do have their lmit, when the scale of object is becomeso big, then our eyes do see tall things converging - so it does means that there is no true definition what perspective correctness is, and so may be interior or architecture photographers can be a little less obssessed.
For example of the two image below, both use Canon 5DII and the extremely sharp Canon PC-E 17/4L (perhaps one of the best lens in Canon's EF line-up today and best of ites type in the world), both with multiple shots and digitally stitched together in Adobe Photoshop CS5.
This image is a traditional perspective corrected images, using VR Drive to get 7 catures and stitched together.
While this one also shot with Canon 5DII with 17/4L, but rather than trying to apply the so-called perspective correction, I leave the perspective as it is define by the lens in zero correction setting, but do shift the lens from top-middle-bottom for 3 captures and stitched them together to get the final image. Yes, the image does not have the expected PC correction from what the PC-E lens is designed to do but come to think of the PC is not always perspective correction, it is about control, and control means one can decide whatever he wants to do, which in this image, I took the liberty to leave it as is so the final image was perspective stretch to portrait the looby of hotel with more dramatic and spacious effect.
Sure, there are photogrpahers may insist what certain image needed to be done, but luckily, I don't know hardly anyone who can rightfully define the photography by oneself, no one is really right or wrong, what I do believe is as long as one can polish his craft to as far as he could, he is a master of his work. And I am still learning.

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