Problems with photomatch (can you adjust the camera angle?)

I’ve used photo match before. So-so results. But this photo is so far off, I can’t compensate. It seems the problem is I can’t adjust the 3rd perspective point, or adjust the camera lens angle. What am I doing wrong, and how to fix?

Try moving one of the green lines up and spread them out. That may help. It is likely that the image has been cropped or there’s been some perspective. Manipulation done to the image. If that is so you won’t be able to make the lines work out correctly.

Indeed. Just judging by eye, if the vertical lines are parallel and the horizon isn’t in the middle of the picture, then it’s been cropped or perspective “corrected”.

Most nice architectural photography uses a tilting bellows lens to correct for perspective distortion. My guess is that is what happened in this building. But that view bias should still be adjustable also in the virtual camera.

The lines have t be crazy to get the vertical working. Like this:

The main prerequisite for a match photo image is that it has not been adjusted in any way. Even cropping can throw it off, so this sort of perspective distortion unfortunately makes the image unsuitable for accurate photomatch.

The consequence of which is as if the camera isn’t looking where it is pointed (i.e. isn’t looking horizontally at the center of the image). That distorts the perspective in ways that photomatch isn’t designed to cope with.

While there are some overall image issues at play here, the roof edge over the balcony cannot be used in any case because it looks to have been built at an acute angle, less than 90°. Notice how the edge fails to meet the vanishing point of other elements of the side façade. The glass wall leading out to the upper-story terrace is also angled. (Oddly though, the railing does follow the side façade.)

@troyaaronharvey, if you want to give Match Photo another shot, load the attached version of the picture as is, including the black region at the bottom. – I’d be very interested in your result.

terrace building canvas extended

Note that the roof is not entirely horizontal and not entirely flat. Only roughly the rear quarter, above a large interior space, is horizontal. Forward of that, the fascia (the roof’s “apron”) clearly has a kink such that a large triangular section of the roof (along almost all of the front and the entire right) is slightly folded upward. The roof apex is at the corner above the terrace. The fascia extends quite a bit below the soffit (roof underside), presumably to give extra protection to the beautiful wooden paneling.

Can you tell us more about the building? The funky roof, glass facade, and the lovely terrace make it fascinating. Moreover, the photograph is stunning – it has excellent geometry and was taken at the perfect time of day for the sunset colors to balance the building’s lighting.

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Nevermind, here we go: This is a classy office building at 12770 El Camino Real, San Diego, CA.

The architecture photography portfolio of the originating photo studio offers several more high-res pictures of the place, and the building’s business page has a brochure with specs and floor plans, which, BTW, reveal another wicked flare-out in the frame around the entryway.

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