Camera distortion?

[Sharon Knettell]

Aargh, thanks a lot Cindy, now I am going to have it in my brain all day too!

[Joan Breckwoldt]

Hi Kim,

I am searching the forum because I'm having the same problem you had back in 2004 when this thread was started. Problem with distortion. I have the Nikon D70S.

From looking at your recent beautiful work, you have obviously solved the problem of distortion, though maybe you are adjusting things by 'eye' with all your experience. I'm wondering, did you ever find a lens that solved your problem? Basically, I'm looking for the lens with the least amount of distortion. (Aren't we all?) I recently took some photos of a model, her shoulder was turned towards me, and just that small difference in her shoulder being closer to me than her head . . . well, it made her shoulder and that arm look much bigger than they really are.

Any info you can share will be much appreciated! Thank you,

Joan

[Kimberly Dow]

Joan,

I still here and there find I have to draw/paint something smaller than how it appears in the reference for exactly this reason - but less often than I used to.

I dont know about a particular lens, but the answer is basically to get farther away from the subject. I do have a Rebel now with a second lens that goes up to 200, but I seldom use it. When I do a shoot I take photos from where I think I want to, then I get closer and snap the same ones, and I also get much farther back and snap the same ones. The ones from farther back will not show the distortion and I can crop them on the computer.

I hope this helps!

[Joan Breckwoldt]

Hi Kim,

Thanks for your help. I do understand that it's best to get farther back to avoid that 'fisheye' type distortion that I get some of. Problem is that my little 'studio', where the walls are painted the perfect color!, is just not big enough to get far enough back to do this properly. Darn. I was hoping there was a magical lens out there. Well, not magical, but close. I guess I'll be moving my models into the living room. I do have a huge foamcore board that I painted the same color as my studio and a bunch of background clothes that I can drape for a background.

I did actually do a little experimenting in my living room with a model and found some of the same problem though. When I take photos the heads look small and the bodies look large. I've been staring at people in grocery stores, at the movie theater, and indeed, some people do have little pin heads. I paint from life once a week and those models look just fine, but they're usually sitting. Now I'm trying to do some standing models. Maybe this is one reason they look like pinheads. This is another reason to paint from life, but as you know, that can't always be done.

Thanks again for your help. I enjoy seeing your beautiful artwork on the forum!

Joan