Perspective transformations in post production

[lookupbrightnow]

Just throwing this out to see what people's views are on this technique. I've been editing drone pics for a few years now, often photographing buildings. At first I had a tendency to adjust verticals when looking down on large areas of buildings from height, perhaps adjusting verticals in Lightroom transform approx +15 or so. I guess it depends on image but sometimes i cant decide what is more natural looking and now tend not to adjust much for verticals as the eye would also see the angled verticals when looking down ... any thoughts from others?

 

[SkyeHigh]

It’s very difficult to get a natural overhead shot with straight lines rising from the ground due to the distortion of wide-angle lenses. Same effect on overhead shots of a forest but without the straight lines.

As the sensor is parallel to the ground no lens would be perfect unlike a tilt/shift lens used at right angles to the ground where you can correct the vertical distortion in-camera.

You could try from a higher viewpoint to lessen the effect and then crop-in to the wanted area of the shot. Or if you have a multi-lens camera then avoid the widest angled lens.

Even using our own eyes looking down the effect is still noticeable.