Tutorial: A Much More Effective Way to Correct for Distortion in a Fisheye Photograph

Nov 13, 2014

Gannon Burgett

When it comes to correcting the distortion on fisheye lenses, most of us use the fairly standard rectilinear methods built into Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw. And while that gets the job done decently well, there’s a way to go about it that will leave you with a lot less noticeable distortion and more of your image still intact.

The above tutorial was shared by astrophotographer Ian Norman, and in it, he explains how this alternative method — which uses Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop and Image Trends’ $30 Fisheye-Hemi Plugin — works far better when you’re wanting to save more of your image while correcting for as much distortion as possible.

The result using Lightroom's built-in correction tool – note the distortion of the sky around the corners. — The result using Lightroom’s built-in correction tool – note the distortion of the sky around the corners.

The result using Norman's process – note how much more of the image is included and how much less distortion there is in the corners. — The result using Norman’s process – note how much more of the image is included and how much less distortion there is in the corners.

In the first three minutes of the twelve-minute video, Norman goes about the standard process, walking us through how most of us go about fixing fisheye distortion. From there, he explains where that method falls short, and introduces you to his preferred method of correcting the image(s).

As you can see from the above comparison, the difference is rather dramatic. Of course, this option isn’t nearly as simple as using built-in options, but trading a little bit of time for quality may be worth it for many of us.