Digital Photography Composition For Dummies

shot (they won't wait around forever while you fiddle with your camera). Because you can't take the time to perfect your perspective (including your crop and camera angle), you'll likely let small discrepancies into your frame with the idea that you can fix them in postproduction. (To read more about perspective, head to Chapter 8.)

The most common ways to change perspective when editing your photos is to straighten and crop, fix distortion, and resize and reposition elements. I describe each in the following sections. As I show in these sections, you can use Photoshop to edit images in this way, but other advanced programs also often have similar features. Check the program's owner's manual for guidance on each.

Straightening and cropping

To straighten your images, open them in Photoshop and follow these steps:

1. Select Filters at the top of your screen.

2. Click on Distort and then select Lens Correction.

The Lens Correction Filter provides a grid on top of your image so you can determine whether your horizontal and vertical lines are straight. It also enables you to rotate the image with precision. Use your horizon line or the edge of a building (or any straight edge that's naturally vertical or horizontal) to determine whether your image is straight or needs to be adjusted.

3. Align your image.

You can rotate the dial by clicking and dragging it, or you can type in specific degrees in the box to the right of the dial.

4. When you have everything lined up the way you want it, click OK to exit the filter screen.

After you've straightened and rotated your image, you can then move on to cropping it using the Crop tool. Select the tool from your tools palette and click and drag it over your image. You can always change the size and shape of the crop and create the perfect composition for your image. Just click on a corner of the crop and drag it up, down, left, right, or diagonally.

In Figure 18-4,1 gave myself extra room on the edges of my frame while photographing Alejandra Pinzon on the set of El Hotel South Beach, Caliente! Because I didn't have more than a few minutes to get a shot, I focused on my lighting and the model's expression. I was less concerned with the edges of my frame. Leaving some extra space to work with allowed me to decide later what the final crop would be. (Having too much is always better than not having enough.) I also rotated the image just enough to make the subject and the background straighter.

Figure 18-4: Straightening and cropping for an ideal composition.

50mm, 1/160 sec, f/3.5, 100

Fixing distortion

In the preceding section, I show you how to use the Lens Correction Filter to straighten and crop your photos. Here, I explain its use to correct distortion in your images.

What's the deal with distortion, you say? Well, sometimes buildings are distorted when you shoot from a low perspective and angle your camera up at them. They appear to be falling backward in the frame. (Refer to Chapter 15 for more details.) The same type of distortion happens when you shoot from a high angle down at a subject; the top half of the subject appears much larger than the bottom half. This angle can cause people's legs to look small in comparison to their upper bodies. Wide-angle lenses cause barrel distortion as well (see Chapter 8). You can use the Lens Correction filter to compensate for all these types of distortion.

Here's how to get the perfect perspective in the various situations:

When shooting at high or low angles: The Vertical Perspective tool enables you to correct for distortion that happens from these angles. By sliding the cursor to the left or right, you cause your entire image to move away from you at the top or bottom. This helps to make buildings stand up straight or to even the proportion of a subject's top and bottom halves.

When shooting from an angle to the side of something: In this case, the side that you took the picture from appears much bigger in your image. This effect is similar to the one in the preceding bullet; but, in this case, it's on a horizontal axis rather than a vertical one. You correct this distortion by using the Horizontal Perspective slider. As you slide the cursor to the left, your image twists in that direction, causing the right side of your frame to appear smaller in relation to the left. The opposite happens if you slide your cursor to the right.

When shooting with a wide-angle lens: To remove barrel distortion caused by wide- angle lenses, use the Remove Distortion tool. This tool is controlled by a slider that allows you to choose the amount of compensation by sliding the cursor to the left or the right.

Resizing and repositioning elements

Imagine that you took a photograph and then, when you looked at it on the computer, decided that the composition would make more sense for your message if the subject were bigger in the frame.

One way to make this happen would be to crop into the image so the overall frame is smaller in comparison to the subject. However, doing so would cut

out a lot of background information, and you probably included everything in the frame for a reason. In order to increase the size of your subject without cropping into the image, follow these steps:

1. Select your subject (or whatever you want to change).

A selection is represented by a borderline (sometimes referred to as marching ants) in the same shape as whatever you select. It dictates which pixels are affected when you make a change. In other words, any pixels inside the borderline are affected, and anything outside the selection remains the same.

You can make a selection using many different techniques, and each is based on what you're making a selection of. The Lasso tool, for example, enables you to trace something by clicking and dragging the mouse around its edges. This is a basic way to make a selection. For more tools and methods you can use when making selections, refer to Digital Photography For Dummies or any of the books in the Photoshop For Dummies series (all published by Wiley).

2. Choose the Free Transform tool from the Edit drop box.

This tool puts a box around your selection; the box has corners that you can drag.

3. Move the corners in and out to decrease and increase the size of your subject.

If you drag the box out to the side, the width of your subject increases. If you drag it to the top, your subject's height increases. In order to increase the size of something while maintaining its correct proportions, hold down the Shift key on your keyboard while dragging a corner. Doing so changes the selection the same amount both vertically and horizontally.

Besides size, Photoshop also gives you complete control over the position of your subject (or other important elements). While your subject is selected, choose the Move tool from your tools palette. This tool allows you to move a selection around your frame by clicking on it and dragging it. If you move something in a frame, though, don't forget that you need to fill the space the move leaves.

When you move elements in your image, always work on a duplicated layer so you have a copy of the original underneath it. This way you can move your subject on the top layer and Clone stamp the original one so it complements the new layer with the repositioned subject. I discuss both duplicate layers and the Clone stamp earlier in this chapter.

Editing your Images to draw the Viewer to your Subject

In Part III of this book, I discuss various ways to make your subject stand out in a composition — from making sure it's the element with the most tonal contrast to blurring out the background with a shallow depth of field, thereby placing the subject in a position of value in your frame. Sometimes the situation or your equipment limits you and prevents you from achieving your desired composition in camera, though. In these situations, you can use photo-editing software to draw more attention to your subject.

In this section, I discuss how to use Photoshop to amend your scene's contrast, enhance the light, and sharpen your image. However, keep in mind that other advanced programs often offer similar features. Refer to