How to avoid body part distortion?

Shooting live performances, once in a while the photographer is getting distortion of body parts such as arms and hands. The lenses in use are 50mm 1.4 and 24-70 2.8 and shooting from between 20-60 feet from stage. The distortion is mainly of arms longer than they actually are and sometimes bent in impossible angles. Less common is distortion of hands being elongated. Photographer knows not to use a wide angle lens so when using the 24-70 the photographer tries to keep the zoom at approximately 50 mm or longer. and not to shoot at a plane level not even with the performers. Photographer knows not to get too close to performers and not to get below them pointing upwards. Photographer would use a longer focal length such as 85mm or 105mm but full stage shots are necessary to include all performers in the image and the longer focal lengths would not allow for full stage images. Photos are shot during performance and are not staged. Any helpful suggestions on technique to avoid distortion is much appreciated.

Nothing to say beyond "time shots better " which tends to translate to "shoot & bin more". I doubt the problem you are talking about is really "distorsion" its just an unflattering arrnagement of those arms & hands in your frame. since you shoot during the performance you can't direct and rearange the subjects, so spray & pray is the only way out.

'hands and arms appearing longer' and 'impossible angles' actually sounds to me more like motion blur caused by a low shutter speed. Easy to get enough movement at 1/30 or 1/60 sec to make a musicians arm look longer, without obvious motion blur elsewhere.

 

Raise shutter speed (and ISO), or, as Jochen says, 'spray and pray'.

 

Or, most likely, both.

Perspective depends on the subject distance, not on the lens focal length. A figure photographed from the same viewpoint with 24mm and 85mm lenses will look exactly the same, just much smaller in the 24mm frame. It's often said that wide angle lenses cause distortion in portraits - actually this only happens with the camera quite close to the subject, as with selfies. Shooting from 20 to 60 feet away should eliminate this.

simply put to avoid distortion don't make the camera captures a view you can't see by your eye.

Shooting live performances, once in a while the photographer is getting distortion of body parts such as arms and hands. The lenses in use are 50mm 1.4 and 24-70 2.8 and shooting from between 20-60 feet from stage. . . Any helpful suggestions on technique to avoid distortion is much appreciated.

 

"Perspective depends on the subject distance, not on the lens focal length. . . Shooting from 20 to 60 feet away should eliminate this [distortion of body parts such as arms and hands]."

 

Exactly.

 

WW

When I shot a lot of theater dress rehearsals I always used at least 2 cameras--one with a wide angle lens for full stage shots and one with a telephoto for closeups. 20-60 feet of distance is more than enough to prevent distortion

Some wide angle lens tend to distort not only hands and arms, but height also. I once used a camera where people appeared taller/shorter than they actually were ? The bad is that there is no way to fix this in Photoshop. I also experiences strange stretching of some limbs especially if the subject was lined up on the extreme edges of the viewfinder.

You've not mentioned if an APS-C body is in use, or Full Frame.

Then again ... there are instances, which shall remain nameless, when the distorted elongation of a body part or two is exactly what a photographer (and/or model and/or audience) might want! :eek:

As a photographic aside, or maybe not so aside, Bill Brandt was a master of ARTISTIC DISTORTION ... among other things.

Some wide angle lens tend to distort not only hands and arms, but height also.

 

As John and Bill said, the issue is distance, not focal length per se. The reason why wide-angle lenses often create this distortion is that the shorter the focal length, the closer you have to frame the person similarly (that is, the same size relative to the frame).

 

Because distance from the camera is the issue, height will be distorted if the person is either leaning towards or leaning away from the camera. Otherwise, it will not be. This doesn't depend on which lens of a given focal length you use.

 

Correct me if I am wrong, but I think this discussion hinges on the assumption that the lenses in question are at least approximately rectilinear.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I think this discussion hinges on the assumption that the lenses in question are at least approximately rectilinear.

 

That, to me, seems a reasonable assumption and also implied in the OP.

 

However, mentioning not to use Fish-eye Lenses does address the request - "Any helpful suggestions on technique to avoid distortion is much appreciated."

WW

Is it the type of performance you can preview on Youtube? Some bands will repeat the same set of moves at the same point in the song usually three times. You should know whats coming and when by the third round.

I don't think perspective has anything at all to do with the type of distortion the OP has described. It's more likely an interaction between the motion of the focal-plane shutter slit and fast-moving arms/hands.

 

If the performer moves their arm, such that the image of the arm is in the same direction as the shutter slit, then that arm will appear to be elongated. Likewise with fingers, drum-sticks, or any other fast-moving subject. And the shutter speed doesn't have to be slow. In fact that kind of distortion is more likely at faster shutter speeds. (Remember, the transit time of the shutter remains constant, and only the slit-width varies.)

 

Probably the most famous picture showing such subject-motion/shutter interaction is of a racing car that appears to have oval wheels. It was taken by Jacques Henri Lartigue in the early 1900s.

As seen on the cover of this book.

^ On re-reading the OP and placing emphasis on specific phases that the OP wrote - your interpretation makes a lot sense.

 

WW

Do you ("photographer") have any examples to show? It would be interesting to see them.

At a distance of 50-60 feet, anything pointed toward the camera will be foreshortened, while an arm extended to the side will have its normal proportion to the body. This is a property of distance and geometery only, not focal length. I would think, however, that a 50 mm lens would be on the short side to be used at that distance, since it would cover most of the stage width. You would get the same perspective with a 600 mm lens as the 50, but the subject would fill more of the image.

 

I think Rodeo Joe is on to something. The "rolling shutter" effect will distort the image. Anything moving parallel to the shutter travel will be enlarged, and vice versa. Anything moving perpendicular to the shutter travel will be twisted. Helicopter blades look like sickles, and golf clubs look like they're made of rubber. Focal plane shutters in a Speed Graphic travel from top to bottom at a really slow rate. Wheels of cars would appear slanted forward when traveling right to left, giving the appearance of speed imitating that in cartoons of the era. Some say Speed Graphic photos inspired Walt Disney in that regard.

Edited May 11, 2020 by Ed_Ingold