Perfect your perspective

Use the powerful Geometry tools to fix converging verticals and wonky frames

- James Paterson

Converging verticals occur when we angle our camera upwards towards a building or structure. The straight vertical edges of the building can lean in towards one another, making it look as if the building is toppling inwards. This effect is emphasised the closer you are to the building – and wider lenses can result in more pronounced distortion. You may be able to avoid converging verticals while taking the shot by stepping back, finding a higher vantage point or using a tilt-shift lens. If none of these options is possible, perspective issues can usually be fixed in Photoshop or Lightroom.

Here we’ve used Camera Raw to fix our photo, but if you’re a Lightroom user, you can use the identical tools in the Develop Module. The Geometry Panel offers a host of perspective-correcting tools. Several of these apply auto-fixes, but there’s also manual control in the form of the Guided Tool. This lets you mark outlines along objects and shapes that you’d like to be either perfectly horizontal or vertical.

Using Warp Transform