Now we’re getting technical!
This will, to most, be a bit of a geeky post. It explains a common problem that all photographers face. The post will explain what Chromatic Aberration (CA) is and how we get rid of it for our 360 Virtual Tours.
Now, for the geeky bit. CA is caused by a number of factors, and to be honest the science of it is so in depth, it’s not worth writing about it here! To put it in really simple terms, CA is caused by digital cameras as they try to distinguish between different colours in highlighted or darker areas. A good example of this is below.
An example of Purple Fringing caused by CA (fig.1) and with the Purple Fringing reduced (fig.2)
As you can see, the above chimney pot is a dark structure that is set against the relatively light clouds behind it. As the camera and lens setup tries to cope with the contrasting colour levels, it produces a purple fringing effect (fig 1) around the edges of the darker areas. The better the lens and camera setup, the less this occurs, although wide angle and fish eye lenses such as the ones used by virtual tour photographers do tend to suffer with this. The answer is simple, and involves the introduction of an extra step during post production.
Post Production Editing Process
An example screenshot of a 360 Virtual Tour scene undergoing post production
Taking photographs on location is just a very small part of what goes in to producing a virtual tour. When the images are brought back to the studio they undergo several processes to ensure a crisp, engaging image. It is during this process that any images with Purple Fringing wil be indentified. The image will then be adjusted using a process called ‘de-saturation’ to reduce the purple colouring. This then gives you a 360 virtual tour free from the dreaded Purple Fringing!
