2020 UPDATE: I shared a better edit of a different but similar image in 2020 here. I much prefer this new version. Please take a look.
This diner is very close to the I-86 or 17 West Diner I posted about on Sunday, roughly just a couple of miles down the road. This is the diner I think might have been open for part of the last 10-12 years during which I have been occasionally driving on Route 17, but I’m not certain. As the sign says, there is a hotel affiliated with the diner. It is behind the camera in this shot, out of sight. I think it also is closed. there were a couple of cars parked next to the hotel but I do not think it is open. The gas station in the background is in business. I bought a cup of coffee for the road.
I rarely am bothered by the distorting effects of the wide angle lens I use for many of my HDR shots. This was a bit of an exception. I tried correcting it in Photoshop but that created its own problems, so I left it uncorrected and leaning. I know there are wide angle lenses that include the ability to correct for this effect when shooting but I do not own any. As I said, usually it does not bother me.
Beyond that, the photo was processed in Photomatix and had its detail enhanced with Topaz Adjust.
Joseph Hoetzl
22 Jul 2010I agree about the wide angle distortion on this one. Just curious if you have/use Lightroom 3, and tried its perspective correction? I still like DxO’s perspective tools (ever try it?) the best, but LR3’s are pretty darn good. And, yes, I realize you’d have to do the same correction to all the frames, but that could be a copy and apply situation.
DARYL (BUTCH) BUTCHER
22 Jul 2010I can see how removing the tilt would cause a cropping problem. DxO can do some nice things. It is also possible to use “distort” in PS to straighten things without creating a crop problem. Cumbersome. Maybe I don’t know how to do it with groups of points rather than a point at a time but, with a little care, horizons can be leveled and keystone fixed WITHOUT losing pixels to crop. Yes, the “rescan” with distort reduces resolution but the trade is favorable.
With shots like this I almost feel compelled to spend time removing overhead wiring. I am used to removing all manner of clutter shooting cars and airplanes. There always seems to be a crowd control rope or a “no smoking” sign right where it shouldn’t be.
mark
23 Jul 2010Joseph – I do not use Lightroom. I’m an Aperture guy. They both have strengths, and the new lens correction feature in Lightroom is one I envy. I don’t think I’d have to do the same correction on every frame, however. I could just do it on the HDR result image, right?
Butch – thanks for the additional tips. I’ll have to look into learning how to distort w/o cropping. All I knew to do was the Lens Correction slider which did create major cropping issues. Funny what you say about the wiring. One comment over at Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/mgarbowski/4818612870/ praised the lines, which I took to refer to the wires. I don’t have a strong opinion either way. I have to admit I didn’t even notice them when composing. I’m noticing that isn’t unusual for me. Pretty often there are elements to my compositions that I don’t notice consciously until I get home and load images on the computer. More often than not, I like them, so I think I’m processing them at some level when I’m in the field. Sometimes I wonder whether taking more care and paying more attention would help or hurt. I might write a post about this if I can make the time.
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