Zoom Tilt Crop

A233 The Zoom+Tilt+Crop-trick

Which of these 3 following images do you find most aesthetically pleasing to look at?

The red house in image B looks like it is about to fall over or made out of rubber! Image C has the best-looking perspective. It looks more realistic with the vertical lines being parallel to the edge of the frame.

The three photos were taken from the same spot. The only difference is how the camera was tilted.

To use the Zoom-Tilt-Crop-trick you first zoom out or walk back to get a much wider shot. Then adjust the tilt until the vertical lines look plumb, and then take your shot. Later you remove (crop) unwanted extra parts of your image to make it a perfect shot. You might not be used to crop your images before uploading them to Google Maps. But you soon learn that it is a great tool to master for making better pics for Google Maps.

Here, the red building is leaning out of the frame.

In the zoomed-out-image, you can see how the camera was tilted downwards. This resulted in a lot more water in the frame.

Oh No! Here, the red building is leaning very much into the frame. It looks horrible.

Notice, how the camera was tilted upwards in the zoomed-out-image. There is a lot more sky than water in this frame.

Now, the red building is looking pretty plumb.

I was standing on a bridge, and tilting up and down until I found the exact tilt where the vertical lines of the red building looking plumb.

Don't worry about all the extra water and the extra sky in the shot. This will be removed/cropped away later.

You should use the Zoom-Tilt-Crop-trick if you are having trouble plumbing the vertical lines in your shots. Zoom out, then adjust the tilt to make the lines plumb, and don't mind if your framing looks odd. Later you will be removing all the unwanted extra sky or foreground etc.

It is always OK to zoom out or walk back to get the lines plumb because you will later crop them to remove all the unwanted parts of the image.

We don't notice the leaning lines with our eyes. Probably because the retina is concave while a camera sensor is flat and our brains are pretty powerful computers.

Watch this video if you don't believe tilting causes leaning vertical lines. Or you can check out these references.

Here is another example to illustrate the Zoom-Tilt-Crop-trick.

The crooked house

Notice how the sides of this building are leaning inwards. This is because the camera was tilted upwards to fit the top of the building inside the frame.

The straight house

This shot was taken from further back. At this distance, there was no need to tilt the camera up. Notice, how the same house now has more pleasing right angle-corners. And the sides are now parallel to the frame.

Which perspective do you prefer?

The Zoom-Tilt-Crop-trick is particularly useful if your camera has a wide-angle lens. Wide-angle lenses can save you from walking back and when obstacles prevent you from walking back.

Cropping is explained later in this module: Cropping.

Attempt #1

How to fix the inwards leaning vertical lines?

Attempt #2

Just tilting down will make the vertical lines are plumb, but now the top part of the church is left outside the frame. Hmm!

Attempt #3

Turning on the wide-angle lens gives you this shot. Notice, how the building on the right looks like they are about to fall over. Hmmm!

Attempt #4

Now, while zoomed out we can tilt-down so the top part of the church still fits inside the frame AND the vertical lines are almost plumb. The drawback is a lot of unwanted grass in the foreground. Hmmmm!

The final image (wide format)

A lot of foreground grass is removed from the image through cropping.

This image is much better than initial attempts. The vertical lines are not 100% plumb, but you need to find a good compromise between plumbness and not losing parts of the roof.

The final image (square format)

Google maps often auto crops our pics to a square format. If you want perfectly plumb vertical lines you could: 1) walk further back or 2) fix the problem in Snapseed.

As seen here, walking further back was not an option. The wall is blocking my path.

First attempt

Notice, the vertical lines are leaning outwards due to the downwards tilt. There are two solutions you can use to fix this problem.

Solution #1

Sit down. Get down low. This allows you to tilt up and the vertical lines will be plumb as seen here.

Solution #2 part one

Walk back or zoom out. This allows you to tilt-up to get the vertical lines plumb. But now you also have the basement shop located too low in your frame as seen here. This is not a problem. It will be fixed in step two.

Solution #2 part two

To get the shop centered vertically and get rid of most of the irrelevant windows above the shop the image was cropped. This is the result ready to be uploaded to Google Maps.

Please keep this 2-step solution in mind next time you are out shooting.

Attempt #1

How to fix the outwards leaning vertical lines?

Attempt #2

Just tilting up will make the vertical lines are plumb, but now the bottom part is left outside the frame. Hmm!

Solution #1

Here sitting down is a pretty good fix. Notice how the vertical lines now are plumb and nothing is left outside the frame. This is an okay fix. But not the best one.

Solution #2 step 1

Another solution is the Zoom-Tilt-Crop-trick. Here I switched on the wide-angle lens.

Solution #2 step 2

Now the camera is tilted up until the vertical lines are plumb. But an unwanted window showed up in the frame. Never mind for now. This will be fixed in the next step.

Solution #2 step 3

Here, the shot has been cropped to remove the window above and center the shop horizontally. This wide image is now ready to be uploaded to Google Maps.

When auto cropped to the square format on Google Maps solution #2 will also look perfect. As shown here.

In module Cropping you will learn why Solution #2 is better than Solution #1 for Google Maps. Below you can see that the square version of Solution #1 will look okay while the wider format is a problem. Too much will be removed from the top and bottom. If this store had a name sign above the shop it would have been cut off.

So solution #2 is to be preferred.

Click/tap your browser's Back button, or continue to the Snapseed demo by hitting "Suggested next page" below. Treasure!

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