I Can't Do Architecture

[Rob MacKillop]

It's such a pain in the derriere, trying to get all the lines right. Here's the Balmoral Hotel on Princes Street, Edinburgh, and to the left is the Scott Monument. I've tried manipulating the verticals in Elements 11, the Lite version of Photoshop. I gave up after ten minutes. The hotel is bulging, contracting, stretching (you should have heard the screaming!) and the Scott Monument is still at an angle.

I know, one needs specialist equipment for this kind of thing. I'll leave it to others.

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[Tom Dunne]

I think you are being hard on yourself. I don't see too much wrong with this. Ok a little off on rh side but we don't have the advantage of shift lenses that will give the perfect results. You can do architecture Rob but maybe we don't possess whiz kid, all dancing skills for the required software manipulation.
I opened it up, improved some areas and made others worse; like robbing Peter to pay Paul.

 

[Brian Moore]

Agree with Tom. Also I don't think you exactly need special equipment to shoot architectural images in general, although certainly the specialty equipment is a great boon for architectural photographers. The key to straight lines I think is to hold the camera level. Unfortunately, buildings are tall and that often compels us to point up, thus making for lines that lean. The solution? Since I don't have any of the T/S lenses or adjustable front cameras, when I take a picture of a building now (my recent Daily Planet offering notwithstanding) I generally try to get far enough away so I can keep the camera fairly level and get the building in without too much leaning of lines. This may result in massive foregrounds, but I can always cut that away after. Then if necessary I will straighten lines in Lightroom. Sometimes it works OK, sometimes not.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Thanks for trying, Tom. That's what I found, every tweak took away something elsewhere. I guess I just don't have the patience, or possibly the interest, in pushing it further. I agree it's not an awful shot, but any half-decent architecture photographer would cringe at it.

Thanks for the tips, Brian. I've done that too, in the past, but not as thought-through as you have done. I do like your building shots, and like all your photography, they always look natural. That's the key, I guess.

 

[Pete Askew]

Still a fine image though. Is there edit transform distort in Elements.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

That's a bit better, Pete, but not perfect. Of course, you didn't have the original to work from. Yes, Elements does have transform-distort. I think I just got bored playing with it. Not my kind of enjoyment, but it does give me more respect for those who specialise in architectural imaging.