When everything else just won’t work, resort to manual Perspective Correction in Photoshop

There are times when Manual Perspective Correction in Photoshop is a must.  Typically, these are times when you have exhausted all other measures and the only way to fix warped perspective in your photo without losing your composition is with manual measures.  It is not as easy as one click lens corrections, or the adaptive Wide Angle Filter, or even the Perspective Warp.  Sometimes you just have to do it on your own.  I’ll show you how at the end of this post.

Example of Manual Perspective Correction in Photoshop

I was trying to fix the warped perspective on this image of the Golden Gate Bridge.  All of it was looking great except for a bit of lens distortion in the bridge.  All of the automated methods would change the entire composition of the photo.  When I was on the scene I really liked how the foreground created leading lines that would take you right to the bridge (the red and cyan lines below).  I also liked how the canvas seemed to be split like an X with the elements within the scene and how they were framed.  When I used the automated methods, these compositional elements were sacrificed because the entire canvas would warp in order to fix the perspective of the bridge.  I knew I had to resort to manual perspective correction in Photoshop.

Manual Perspective Correction in Photoshop Example

See this image large on 500px

It is not difficult to manually correct your images in Photoshop.  As a matter of fact, you are probably already using these techniques on a daily basis, just not in this fashion in Photoshop.  In today’s tutorial, I will show you the art and magic of manual Perspective Correction in Photoshop.  We will discuss the following:

  1. Compositional elements within the frame of the scene.
  2. How to duplicate one piece of your photo to edit without affecting the rest of the photo.
  3. How to mask the excess areas out to make your new perspective corrected image fit seamlessly into your photo.

 

Blake Rudis
f.64 Academy and f.64 Elite are the brainchildren of Blake Rudis. While he is a landscape photographer, he is most passionate about post-processing images in Photoshop and mentoring others.

For Blake, it's all about the art and process synergy. He dives deep into complex topics and makes them easy to understand through his outside-the-box thinking so that you can use these tricks in your workflow today!
Blake Rudis on EmailBlake Rudis on FacebookBlake Rudis on InstagramBlake Rudis on PinterestBlake Rudis on TwitterBlake Rudis on Youtube