APPLY PRO WIDE-ANGLE CORRECTIONS
Follow this universal workflow for every wide-angle image and learn to adapt it for different circumstances
1
ENABLE AUTOMATIC PROFILES Open the image in your preferred rAW editor. Most applications work in a similar way and contain profiles for the most popular lens and camera pairings. in camera raw, check the enable Lens Profile corrections box and select the appropriate equipment.
2 ADJUST BARREL AND PINCUSHION
DISTORTION Move to the Manual tab and in the Transform panel move the distortion slider to correct convex or concave effects. This can often leave transparent spaces at the frame edges. To remove this use the scale slider to crop accordingly.
3
ADDRESS VIGNETTING edge darkening can be corrected in three locations in Adobe camera raw. For basic brightening use the slider in the Profile tab. A more refined choice is to alter the amount and Midpoint (distance from edge) in the Manual tab. use the Post crop correction option only when it is appropriate.
4
CONTROL COLOUR ABERRATIONS
in the colour tab check the remove chromatic Aberration box. Zoom in to an area where high-contrast edges are visible and adjust the sliders to compensate for the most obvious coloured banding. use the hue sliders to closely target the colour of the offending fringing.
5
CORRECT UNEVEN BRIGHTNESS A wide frame can exhibit great exposure variance, moving away from a light source. use the graduated Filter (g) and either apply negative highlights or exposure to even out brightness. This is preferable to brightening areas, which can promote increased noise in flat sky tones.
6
FILL EDGES Open the image in Photoshop, make a duplicate layer and, as an alternative method to scaling edges, use content Aware Fill to patch transparent spaces. select the seams, and use the content Aware option from the dropdown in the Fill dialog box. Then, touch up any missampled detail.
7
ADVANCED DISTORTION CORRECTION
For complex wave-type distortions or other localised aberrations, try using the Puppet Warp tool to apply straightening. in this image noticeable curvature of the horizon was visible – by adding pins above and below, Puppet Warp was able to successfully render this less apparent.
8
TARGETED BANDING SOLUTIONS
Where chromatic aberrations remain, use Photoshop’s eyedropper tool to sample the offending colour and reduce the saturation, alter the hue and adjust the brightness to reduce visibility. here the hue/saturation dialog was employed and the effect masked from the rest of the image.