

It is worth noting that utilizing a zoom lens at its widest setting will almost always bring a variety of other flaws into your image. As a result, putting the focal length in the middle of your lens’s range will usually assist you in getting rid of the chromatic aberration. Change your Focal LengthĪlthough having a wide range of focal lengths is convenient, most zoom lenses suffer from chromatic aberration at their focal length extremes. If you really must capture an image as it is, shoot in RAW and plan on doing some post-production touch-ups. For example, change your backdrop to something that more nearly matches the tones of your subject, or wait for better lighting. As a result, you often have no choice but to change your composition. There is no simple way to avoid contrast in-camera. Darker images against white backgrounds, landscapes against a brilliant sunrise, or – as in the case of the cheetah below – strongly backlit subjects are particularly troublesome. When shooting scenes with a lot of contrast, chromatic aberration is more noticeable. However, the good news is that if you possess a lens that has apparent chromatic aberration, there are a few simple techniques you can do to erase or reduce its impact on your images.
Chromatic aberration how to#
How to Avoid Chromatic Aberration?Ĭhromatic aberration is a severe issue, particularly with low-cost lenses.

Purple fringing is only evident in high-contrast areas, but even when post-processing removes the effect, it still softens the image around the margins and corners. Purple fringing appears around the frame’s edges. Longitudinal Chromatic AberrationĬolor fringing appears around subjects throughout the image, both in the center and on the edges. When photographing in high contrast, different hues of light moving at different speeds via a lens can cause photographs to appear blurry or form visible red, green, blue, yellow, purple, and magenta margins around objects. Impact of Chromatic AberrationĬhromatic aberrations can have several detrimental effects on image quality. What matters is if your lens has apparent chromatic aberration and whether the level of visible chromatic aberration is a deal-breaker for your needs. Regardless of the price, all lenses suffer from a chromatic aberration in some form or another.
Chromatic aberration professional#
Now, it is not implied that you need a professional lens. There are faults in the design of these lens elements – either in the glass or the lens itself – that can create chromatic aberration in your images under certain conditions.

Unfortunately, this is also where chromatic aberration manifests itself. It may appear straightforward, but different wavelengths (and hence different colors) impact your lens simultaneously, and each of these wavelengths will react slightly differently depending on the lens glass it is passing through. Your lens must make sure that all wavelengths of that particular ray reach the same spot on the sensor. So, your camera’s sensor can detect the combined color of light. It is crucial to remember that light is made up of various wavelengths (colors). It bends light, and colors passing through the lens are split at different angles, similar to the triangle-shaped prism made popular by Pink Floyd. Image Source: unplash Causes of Chromatic AberrationĬhromatic aberration happens because your lens functions as a prism. As a result, every high-quality optical system corrects both chromatic aberration and lateral color.Īlthough Photoshop and Lightroom can edit out modest degrees of chromatic aberration, the reality is that removing chromatic aberration from every photo is inconvenient, and every minute you spend touching up an image is time you do not have for photography. Achromatizing all system components or making the system symmetrical around a central diaphragm can remove chromatic magnification variance. Later, people used this method in tiny telescopes in the late 18th century. Chester Hall, an English inventor, discovered this method of reducing chromatic aberration in 1729.

Different wavelengths of light move through the lens at different speeds, making it difficult for some lenses to focus each color on the same focal plane.Ĭombining a solid lens composed of low-dispersion (crown) glass with a weaker lens made of high-dispersion (flint) glass helps reduce chromatic aberration. The refractive index of glass causes this. Blue-yellow, red-green, or magenta-purple fringing can occur when a camera lens fails to concentrate each of white light’s distinct wavelengths onto the same focal point.
