Additional Resources domestika.

org

Course by Mina Barrio

WHICH LINES
MATTER?
This document is very important since it will play a key role in helping you to start
noticing the lines in your photos. It will help you to make the perspective nearly
perfect when you go to correct it in the editing program. Here, I’ll show you the
lines that you should choose when correcting the perspective in several photos
and why.
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PERSPECTIVE CORRECTION

In this .pdf, I’ll explain how I usually choose

reference lines when correcting the perspective
of a photo.

For this, first, we’ll analyze the angle of the

photo, meaning, the angle of the smartphone’s
camera in relation to the subject and the ground.

After, we’ll choose to correct the horizontal

lines (yellow) or the vertical ones (orange). With
that in mind, we’ll differentiate between:

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Nº1

Frontal and overhead photos. The camera

forms a 90º angle with the ground and another
90º angle with the subject. In these, we’ll correct
both the vertical and horizontal lines.

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In this photo, our smartphone is totally

perpendicular to the ground. An example to
understand this: if the smartphone were 2 meters
long, it would be standing on the floor.

Plus, the wall forms a 90º angle with the

smartphone’s camera, meaning, we see it
perfectly head on.

That said, we can choose either vertical or

horizontal lines to correct the perspective.

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This wall is also completely perpendicular to our

camera, and our camera is 90º from the ground.
We’ll use all horizontal and vertical lines as points
of reference.

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This case is the same as the photo before. We’ll

choose vertical and horizontal lines.

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This photo is an overhead shot, it was taken from

above, meaning, that the camera is completely
perpendicular to the subject, which is the ground.

In this type of photo we can choose whether we

want the lines to be straight, as is the case of this
photo, or if we want them to form a diagonal line.

My advice is: make them completely straight or

turn them a lot. You don’t want it to look like it
turned out crooked accidentally!

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Nº2

Lateral photos. The camera forms a 90º angle

with the ground and another 90º angle with the
subject. In these, we’ll correct the vertical lines.

I recommend checking all the vertical lines when

you’re correcting and comparing them using a
grid. However, if you could only choose two lines,
I’d choose the ones close to the edges because
they’re usually bent more.

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In this photo the camera is perpendicular to the

floor, but the glass windows are viewed from the
side. This is why you can use any of the vertical
lines as a reference.

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This photo is lateral, and similar to the one

before. Any of the vertical lines work for
correcting the perspective.

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In this photo there are two walls, but neither

forms a 90º angle with the camera, instead both
are viewed from the side. We’ll use vertical lines
to correct.

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We view the wall from the side, which is why we’ll

use vertical lines. Tip: try to find them in the
furniture and architecture.

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Nº3

Atypical photos. The camera doesn’t form any

straight angles with the subject or the floor and
the lines that are formed in the photo are
diagonal. You don’t need to correct the
perspective.

You don’t need to correct the perspective of

overhead photos (taken from above) where you
want the lines to be diagonal instead of straight,
either.

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