Critique Welcomed Hamburg Town Hall

[Bill Watts]

I also prefer the second both because of the colour and the aspect. The contrast is higher on the left side (due to the shadows I assume) and I find that draws my eye. I would be tempted to try to increase the contrast (and maybe the blacks also) on the right-hand side to compensate.

For perspective correction I nearly always use Edit/Transform/Distort in PhotoShop as I find it gives me the best control and allows one to sort out centre-point issues and other corrections in a more ‘visually pleasing' way.

I need a bit more practice with the perspective tools!

 

[Gianluca Drago]

It's a tough nut to crack, Gianluca. If you're correcting the perspective with software in post you need to be far enough away from the tall building to be able to get it all in your frame while leaving enough space around it to allow for straightening. But because most tall buildings are in cities and surrounded by other buildings getting a clear shot is nigh on impossible. It can be done though, if the circumstances are right. Your other alternatives are to accept the fact that it's a tall building and shoot up, or to frame and accentuate abstracts of the building. I have a couple of shift lenses that I use from time-to-time. One is a Canon 24mm Tilt-Shift and the other is an Olympus 35mm Shift (no tilt) lens. But most of the time I correct perspective in the post-processing phase. In the past I have relied on getting verticals right just by "eye-balling" the vertical adjustment in the Lightroom Transform module, and going with what looks best. But recently I've used the "Guided" feature, which works quite well I think.

Thank you Brian, it seems to me that you have made a very good summary about the problem and possible solutions. I don't have tilt-shift lenses, but as I understand it in some cases even the camera equipment is not enough, nor is post processing via software. In those cases, for me, a non-frontal shot can be interesting even if it shows converging lines, then of course it also depends on the purpose of the photo.