How do I prevent / fix out of square images?

Question

I took photos of a lot of different framed art pieces that I wish to sell. The frames of these art pieces are either square or rectangular. In my images, the top of the frame appears to be wider than the bottom of the frame.

How do I prevent this in the future when photographing similar objects?

Is there a way to edit the images I have to remove this affect? If so, please provide step by step directions.

I have Photoshop CS 4, and Fireworks CS 4 from adobe for the Mac, but I have very minimal experience with either of these programs. I'd be willing to spend up to $20 to avoid having to re-shoot the photos, if there is another program that would let me fix this on a Mac.

The image below illustrates the affect I am talking about. the photo was taken with a Canon Eos Rebel T21, 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 lens ISO 320, 26mm, f/4 1/50 The displayed image was compressed from the original to conserve space here.

Asked by Scott

Answer

It sounds like this is a perspective problem, you didn't or couldn't shoot the (rectangular) subject perfectly straight on. You could correct this in the future by, obviously, shooting straight at the subject or using a perspective correcting lens (tilts and shifts) or you could correct it in software using a perspective correcting application/plugin like:

• Photoshop (CS4 Tutorial)
• DxO Optics ($290)
• Perspective Pilot ($29)

Answered by Shizam

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