This article is for those who do not have  tilt shift adapter or TS lens and still do architecture photography.
I’ll show you how to correct perspective distortion using Photoshop. Camera lens distortions occur frequently when taking pictures of architectural subjects with a wide-angle lens and the need to use an external program. Distortion will always have place when  we shoot tall buildings, tilting the camera upwards.  There is no way (unless you have TS adapter or lens)  to get  vertical lines to be vertical on a picture, as it will fall in the middle.

However, you can easily correct camera lens distortions using Photoshop or other photo software.

Below you can  find list of software for lens distortion and perspective correction and tutorial how to fix it in Adobe Photoshop

How to correct perspective distortions of an image using the Adobe Photoshop Free Transform Tool.

Before lens distortion and perspective correction

After lens distortion and perspective correction

All you have to do is:

Step 1 Open the photo in Adobe Photoshop.

Step 2 Duplicate layer

Step 3 Create Guides Lines

View -> Rulers

Create  vertical and/or horizontal guide lines by dragging a vertical (and/or horizontal) guide lines from the vertical (and/or horizontal) white ruler on the left (top) side of the window.

Using rullers in Photoshop

Step 4 Edit ->Free Transform

Select the upper right corner handle and click and hold down, then hold down Control key and drag the handle to the right  until building walls become parallel with guide lines  correcting the tilting perspective, than the left corner move to the left.

While this technique brings the perspective to a normal view, it also has the effect of shortening the buildings. To correct this, grab the center bottom handle and drag it down until the buildings look their correct height.

Using Free Transform tool in Photoshop

As a result we have straight lines:

Now we have straight lines

Removing Lens Barrel Distortion using the Adobe Photoshop

Repeat steps  1-3 from previous tutorial, than choose:

Step 4 Filter ->Distort ->Spherize

Experiment with a  number for your particular image and find a perfect one.

Dear readers, I did not find an example of image with Barrel Distortion in our archive. Looks like our lenses too good to have it )  If you have one, please send me and I will put it in this post with the link to your web site.

Now I give you the list with software that can help you to get photographs with no optical faults:

Software:

• DxO Optics Pro automatically applies optical corrections to your images (JPEG, RAW). The software is based an exclusive DxO Optics Correction Modules created in laboratories after meticulous and in-depth analysis of each combination of camera and lens type.
• Altostorm Rectilinear Panorama™ is a professional tool for panorama and perspective distortion correction. It can correct any asymmetrical and irregular geometric distortions of panoramic images, recover real shapes and sizes of objects and restore their natural look.
• Perspective Pilot can be used as a standalone version and as a plug-in in your favorite photo editor

Photoshop plug-ins:

• Lens Corrector: Camera lens distortion correction
• Proxel Lens Corrector
• Perspective Pilot as a plug-in

If you know how to fix distortions in a different way or know another software, please let me know, I will happy to include your technique in this post.

Related posts:

1. Architecture photography post-production and retouching for Vieler International.
2. Raw Image Processing or How to Choose a RAW Converter
3. Architectural Photography Post-Production
4. How to create a High Key Photography Effect in Photoshop
5. Is the white background really white?