[Leica] [MUGers] Pisa at 7AM/ Recent Steam

[henningw at archiphoto.com (Henning Wulff)]

At 1:34 AM +0200 4/25/05, Douglas Sharp wrote:
>Hello all,
>
>Some early morning shots of Pisa, Italy. Leica M6 + Voigtlaender 15mm.
>Please don't point out the "verticals" (grin).
>http://gallery.leica-users.org/New-Old-Pictures/Image3_4_edited_2 
>(Palazzo in the shade)
>http://gallery.leica-users.org/New-Old-Pictures/Image4_1_edited_2 
>(The famous tower)
>http://gallery.leica-users.org/New-Old-Pictures/Image3_3_edited_2 
>(Early bird and the tower)
>http://gallery.leica-users.org/New-Old-Pictures/Image1_8_edited_2  
>(Basilica)
>http://gallery.leica-users.org/New-Old-Pictures/Image1_7_edited_2 
>(Tower and Basilica)

Hi Douglas,

It's interesting to see Pisa, but there are some disturbing things 
about the pictures:

First, Pisa is definitely a place where you have to make sure your 
horizon is straight and level, because that is what your pictures of 
the tower reference to.

Secondly, when you correct for verticals (ie, reducing keystoning 
when your film plane is not parallel with the subject) make _very_ 
sure you don't overcorrect. When shooting architectural subjects with 
a shift lens or with a view camera, the basic rule is that you can 
correct up to having parallel verticals, but never overcorrect. With 
strong correction, it looks best if you back off a bit and leave a 
slight bit of keystoning.

Only Image1_8_edited_2 doesn't show either of these problems. A way 
that you can tell if you've over corrected is if the top of the tower 
is wider on the picture than the bottom, if both are in fact the same 
width.

If you've used a lens like the 12 or 15, and have just cropped the 
photos to get these pictures, then you aimed the camera below the 
horizon. That will produce the same effect.

-- 
    *            Henning J. Wulff
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