The latest release of Lightroom CC 2015 includes a new more controllable version of Upright and a new Transform panel in the Develop module. Here’s a Photofocus first look

Upright has moved

Upright, formerly found in the Lens Correction panel, has moved to the new Transform panel. All of the Upright modes you have grown to love-Auto, Level, Vertical and Full-are still there along with a new addition: Guided.

Guided Upright In Lightroom's new Transform panel

My photograph of work being done to the town hall in Brussels’ Grand Place is a great one to show how Guided Upright works.

Using Guided Upright

Setting vertical guides

Guided Upright-007

First, check both Remove Chromatic Aberration and Enable Profile Corrections in the Lens Corrections panel as shown above. Click on the Guided icon just left of the word Upright in the Transform panel or click the Guided button or use the keyboard shortcut Shift + T. A loupe showing the cursor position appears allowing its precise positioning on a vertical line of the facade. Click, then drag to pull out a second anchor point. Move it to the opposite end of the vertical. Use the loupe to position it in the same relative spot as the first one to set a guide. Move to another, parallel, vertical. Click at the top, drag down, the click near the bottom to place the second guide. Lightroom applies the change as soon as you release the mouse.

Horizontal corrections

The same procedure works for correcting converging horizontal lines. Place the first horizontal guide. Some correction happens. The magical perspective correction appears when the second guide is set.

Guided Upright-009
A close look at this screenshot shows both guide pairs–vertical and horizontal.

Scaling & moving

I know, I know. The top of the spire is cut off. Or is it? Actually, it’s still there. It’s just beyond the view.

To see the whole building, move the Scale slide to the left until the spire reappears. Alternatively, hold down both the Command (WIN: Control) and the Option (WIN: Alt) then drag the image down.

 

There’s the spire. Constrain the dragging to vertical (or horizontal) by adding the Shift key. As the image is dragged, down in this case, the Y slider moves to the left. A horizontal move changes the X slider. They can be adjusted by sliding as well. For this photograph, the Scale slider was moved left to make the overall size smaller. A tweak with the Y slider took care of the top and bottom.  Note: Clicking Constrain Crop in Guided Upright, crops the bottom of the photo out.

Finish in the Crop tool

Finally a visit to the Crop panel (R) removes the sides where Guided Upright did its work.

Shortcuts

  • Guided Upright tool: Shift + T
  • Loupe toggle on / off: O
  • Grid overlay toggle on / off: H
  • Tool overlay toggle on / off: A
  • Move image: Command (WIN: Control) + Option (WIN: Alt) Drag*

* add Shift to constrain the move to vertical / horizontal directions

Lightroom 6 standalone

Guided Upright is in the Creative Cloud version of Lightroom CC 2015. It will not be included in updates to standalone versions of Lightroom 6.

Summary

The world is full of really great architecture. I don’t know about you, but I get tired of having to do a perspective correction in Photoshop for a photograph of a building that I want to put on social media. Guided Upright is fast, efficient and easy to use. I can also see using  Guided Upright for my professional architectural work too. It is a great tool for photographers who shoot interiors and exteriors of buildings and don’t have a tilt / shift lens or didn’t bring it along.

I’ll bet our Photofocus readers will come up with some creative uses too. When you do, please share!