How to Fix Lens Distortion in Adobe Lightroom

[LukeLewis]

In a few of my previous posts, I covered how to go about correcting lens distortion in a photograph inside of Adobe Camera Raw. In those posts, I discussed how to fix lens distortion itself as well as how to use the Guided Upright tool. While both posts I just referenced use Camera Raw to fix distorted photos, I’d like to take this opportunity today to let you know that Adobe Lightroom offers the same exact features. If you know how to use these tools in Camera Raw, you should have no problems when it comes to using them in Lightroom.

In today’s post, I’m going to give you a quick overview of both the Lens Correction and Transform panels in Adobe Lightroom. It’s inside of these panels that the tools I referenced above are held. Luckily, it’s not very difficult to go about correcting an image using these tools because their offerings aren’t very extensive. They’re also very easy to understand.

For today’s demonstration, I’ll be using a photograph of some indoor architecture. It’s exactly these types of photos that can show distortion the most, so it’s important to form a routine to run your images through to fix this sort of thing. It’s actually a good idea to run nearly every photo you take through this sort of correction, except, of course, if you’re going for a particular type of a look.

The Lens Correction Panel​

I’m sure you’ve seen lens distortion before. You may not have noticed it in many photos, but you most likely will if you look at an image that was captured using a wide angle lens. Typically, you’ll see a slight bulge or shrinkage that originates from the center of the image and also curves, or bows, in areas that are supposed to consist of straight lines. Finally, the most common feature of lens distortion includes a darkening of the photo’s edges. This is called vignetting. So we’ve got Barrel Distortion, Pincushion Distortion and Vignetting. These are all simple enough to correct inside of the Lens Correction panel.

I’ve already got the image opened up in Lightroom, so I’ll head over to the Lens Correction panel. I’ll then click the Enable Profile Corrections check box.



When I checked that box, Lightroom determined what type of camera and lens combination was used to capture the image and then made corrections based off that information. So, the photo was distorted before the box was checked and then a bit less distorted after it was checked. If I wanted to go even further and make corrections based on what I feel is necessary, I could always move down a tad and push both the Distortion and Vignetting sliders until I see a result I like. The Distortion slider will emphasize the Barrel Distortion corrections that were already made automatically and the Vignetting slider will either brighten or darken the edges of the image.



If, for some reason, Lightroom can’t pick up on what type of camera was used to take the photo, there is another option. I’ll click on the Manual link inside of the Lens Correction panel and then push the Distortion > Amount slider back and forth until I see the result I like.



As a word of warning, this slider is much more dramatic than those in the previous Profile section. A little goes a long way with this one. I’ll push this slider all the way to the right to demonstrate. Let’s see what that does to the photo.



See what I’m saying here? So be careful with this one.

The Transform Panel​

If I saw straight edges in the photo that were leaning one way or another or that were distorted in some fashion, I could make tremendous improvements by taking advantage of the Transform panel. Inside this panel is the Upright tool, which does a remarkable job at straightening things out. While I won’t get into every nuance this tool has to offer, I will tell you that by clicking each of the available buttons up at the top of the panel, you’ll easily see the effects they can offer. For best results, I’ve found that the Auto and the Full buttons give the best results. They straighten lines out the most effectively so the photo appears the way reality intended.



If you felt as though you needed some custom improvements, you can always push the associated sliders down below. As an example, I’ll push the Horizontal slider to the right. Let’s see the result of that.



As you can see, these corrections have the capability of being quite dramatic as well.

With the tools I discussed in this post, you can make most necessary corrections to your photos. In subsequent posts, I’ll be covering how you can take advantage of these same tools to alter images other than buildings, cities and things like that. If you have any questions about what I shared here today, please ask below or in the Lightroom section of the discussion forum. Thanks for reading!

 

[LukeLewis]

Correcting Lens & Perspective Distortion in Lightroom​

When you take a photo with your DSLR camera, you oftentimes end up with an image that’s distorted. You may not even notice this distortion, but it’s there. It can take a few different forms, but the most common are where the center bulges somewhat or shrinks in somewhat. These two types of distortion are called Barrel and Pincushion. Other unwanted lens effects have to do with Vignetting (when the outer edges of the photograph become darkened by the lens) and perspective distortion (where buildings and other straight edged objects tend to lean inward and outward). The latter distortion is referred to as Perspective. All the types of distortion that I just mentioned above can be corrected in Adobe Lightroom.

To deal with Barrel and Pincushion distortion as well as Vignetting, it’s best to open your photo inside of Lightroom and then click on the Develop tab up top. Then, click the Lens Corrections panel in the right column to open that up. Inside, you’ll have two choices, Profile and Manual. If you choose the profile option, check the Enable Profile Corrections box with your mouse and then let Lightroom choose which lens and camera combo you shot your photo with. It’ll correct things by itself from there. You can also add to or subtract from the automated corrections by pushing the Distortion and Vignetting sliders down below.

If you aren’t happy with the profile corrections that Lightroom chose for you, you can always opt to make some manual edits yourself. To do this, simply click the Manual link up at the top of the panel and then adjust the Distortion and Vignetting from there.

When it comes to correcting perspective, Lightroom offers some excellent tools. Close the Lens Corrections panel and then click to open the Transform panel. Inside this panel you’ll see the Upright tool. This tool consists of a few buttons. To correct the perspective of your photo, click through the buttons to find the output you like the best. I’ll tell you right now that the Auto and Full options oftentimes offer the best results. If you’d like, you can push some of the Transform sliders down below the Upright buttons as well. The current options include Vertical, Horizontal, Rotate, Aspect, Scale, X Offset and Y Offset. You’ll need to experiment with these sliders a bit to get used to their dramatic results, but they can help tremendously when it comes to fixing perspective distortion.

If you have any questions regarding how to correct your photos when they’ve got lens or perspective distortion, please let me know down below. I’d love to help. Thanks!

 

[LukeLewis]

Lens Correction & Upright in Adobe Lightroom​

There are a few tasks that need to be taken care of before you go off editing your photos in Adobe Lightroom and Camera Raw. I know how much fun it is to dig right into the Basic panel to get going, but honestly, I think it’s more important to find out if your image is actually usable first. You know, before you spend all that time on the editing.

Let’s say you’ve taken a few architectural photographs and the time has come to edit them in one of the applications I just mentioned above. The photos were unknowingly taken at weird angles, and because of that, they may not even be able to be corrected. There’s a lot you can do in Lightroom to fix the distortion that’s created by both angle and lens, but sometimes, that distortion is just too much. This post isn’t about what to do if a photo is no good though. I actually want to write about two tools you can use to correct lens distortion as well and faulty angles in scenes. It’s after this editing that you’d make the choice as to whether or not the image is a keeper.

For this post, I’ll be using this photo. I’ll first demonstrate how to go about correcting any lens distortion and then I’ll use the Upright tool to straighten up the buildings. As you can see, they’re on some strange angles.



I’ve got Adobe Lightroom opened up and I’ve already clicked on the Develop tab. I’ve located the image from all of those that I’ve imported and I’m ready to get to work. In the right column, I’ll find and click on the Lens Corrections panel to open it up and then once inside, I’ll click on the Profile link. I’ll then check the two boxes on top. The first one removes Chromatic Aberration and the second actives the Lens Profile Corrections area below. When this area becomes activated, I’ll choose the make of the camera I used to take the shot and then the make and model of the lens that was used. After I do this, I should see the image move slightly. Or dramatically. I’ve found that standard lenses don’t introduce overwhelming distortion, but GoPro cameras do. So, it really depends on what type of lens was used to capture the image.



If there is excessive distortion or vignetting in the image you’re editing, you can push the Distortion and Vignetting sliders that are located at the bottom of the panel.

Really, you should lens correct pretty much every shot you edit in Lightroom. This is standard practice.

Now onto the fun stuff. I’ll click to close this panel and then I’ll click on the Transform panel. This is an interesting panel to hang out in because everyone’s results will vary with intention and use. What I can tell you about this panel is that you’ll need to experiment. For the photo I’m working on, I went ahead and clicked the Full button because I wanted both vertical and horizontal correction. If you’re only looking for one type of correction, go ahead and click through all the buttons to see which one suits you.



Below these buttons are a bunch of sliders. Each one does something dramatically different than the others. If you are editing a photo of a person standing there and you feel as though they appear to be leaning back too much, you can adjust the photo so it leans in at the top. You can shrink one side of a photo while enlarging another. The sky is the limit with these sliders and again, experimentation will be necessary. It really depends on what you’d like to do with your images.

Well there you have it. A quick introduction to both the Lens Corrections and the Transform panels. Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks!

Oh yeah, let’s see the straightened photograph.