Beginner's Guide to Chromatic Aberration in Photography

If you're a photographer, you've probably heard of chromatic aberration. It's a common subject among content creators, as most see it as a flaw. However, chromatic aberration isn't necessarily a bad thing.

The trick is to understand it, including how it works and why it occurs, so that you can find the most effective way to use it to your advantage. Chromatic aberration may temper your photos, but it's amendable.

Today, we'll discuss everything you should know about chromatic aberration, including how to avoid and fix it in post-production.

What Is Chromatic Aberration in Photography?

Also known as color or purple fringing, chromatic aberration is a common type of color distortion that adds an outline layer of unwanted color along the edges of subjects and objects in camera-captured photography. Some camera lenses cannot focus the hue of each color on the same focal plane.

Camera lenses may add this undesired optical effect when they can't adequately capture all the color wavelengths focused on a specific point. Most camera lenses can't properly refract all the wavelengths of colors and bring them to one point at a particular angle.

Chromatic aberration directly results from this inability to focus all colors and their wavelengths into a single point. Though you can solve this problem using a prime-quality lens to reduce chromatic aberration, different types of chromatic aberrations cause different color distortions.

There are two types of chromatic aberration:

• Lateral or transverse chromatic aberration (TCA) – Commonly appears along high-contrast edges and in frames with unsmooth transitions between dark and light areas. It's primarily associated with short focal lengths.TCA results from projecting different light wavelengths in different regions of the focal plane. You'll recognize it by the red-green or blue-yellow fringing.
• Longitudinal or axial chromatic aberration (LCA) – Typical for wide prime lenses and long focal lengths, LCA commonly manifests as the undesired color fringing in the center and around the edges of the frame. It happens due to the inability of the camera lens to focus all light wavelengths on the specific focal plane.

These can happen because different colors of light enter the camera lens at different times, angles, and speeds, causing various forms of chromatic aberration deviations.

How to Recognize Chromatic Aberration in Photography

Every type of chromatic aberration causes different color distortions to appear in photography. Often, chromatic aberration appears as a magenta-purple.

Chromatic aberration can also appear as a red-green glow. Here’s an example:

Blue-yellow fringing is another common example of chromatic aberration. Here’s how to recognize it:

On the other hand, you may recognize it by different colors of outlines along the object's edge in your photo.

This distortion commonly occurs in high-contrast areas, such as between light and dark surfaces or metallic objects. It manifests as unwanted color halos along the edges of the frame.

Additionally, you may notice thin, colorful lines in the photo's out-of-focus areas. Chromatic aberration produces undesired colors in photography, such as yellow, red, blue, green, magenta, purple, etc.

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How to Correct Chromatic Aberration During Post-production

If you're experiencing chromatic aberration issues, there are things you can do to correct chromatic aberration in the post-production phase of your photo editing journey.

Here are some top chromatic aberration correction methods to help you fix your photography:

• Use the Remove Chromatic Aberration option in Lightroom Classic to remove TCA automatically (Develop > Lens Corrections > Profile > Remove Chromatic Aberration);
• Use the Defringe sliders and controls in Lightroom 4.1 or later to correct LCA (Optics panel > Defringe > Fringe Selector);
• Use Radial Gradient, Linear Gradient, or Brush panels to access the Defringe slider and remove green or purple hues in Adobe Lightroom;
• Use the Optics Module in Photoshop to access Defringe sliders and adjust settings such as Purple Amount, Purple Hue, Green Amount, and Green Hue.

Another thing you can try is using a professional image and video editor like Wondershare Filmora. Filmora lends you the power of AI editing to help transform the chromatic aberration effect into a customized aesthetic for your footage.

Filmora allows you to use chromatic aberration to your advantage by turning it into a cinematic-style, artistic effect to add more emotion and depth to your visuals. You can use the effect to highlight key moments in your photos, create hyper-real 3D visual scenes, and more.

In addition to correcting chromatic aberration in your photos and videos, Filmora lets you enhance your content with fantastic visual effects, 3D text animations, automated titles, and other creative assets.

Chromatic Aberration Video Effects│Filmora

Correcting chromatic aberration in Filmora is a simple process. Download and install Filmora on your computer, then follow the steps below to use chromatic aberration as a visual effect.

Step 1: Launch Filmora and navigate to Create Project > New Project.

Step 2: Select Import, add your video, and drag it to the timeline.

Step 3: Navigate to the Effects tab and type Chromatic Aberration in the search bar.

Step 4: Select the Chromatic Aberration effect that matches your needs and drag it to the timeline. Place it above your video.

Step 5: Now, click the effect in the timeline to open the Editing panel on the right side. You’ll see Fade and Opacity settings. Use them to correct the chromatic aberration effect according to your requirements.

Step 6: After adding the chromatic aberration effect, drag the same video to the timeline again and click it to open the Video editor panel. Navigate to Video > AI Tools > Smart Cutout. Select Click to start Smart Cutout.

Step 7: Determine the image area where you don’t want to apply the chromatic aberration effect. Select it and choose Click to start Smart Cutout. When you’re finished, click Save.

Step 8: Once you’re done, click Export to save the enhanced video on your computer.

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How to Avoid Chromatic Aberration in Photography

Here are some effective techniques to help you reduce, minimize, and correct the chromatic aberration effect on your photos:

• Avoid high-contrast scenes – Chromatic aberration is most visible in high-contrast scenes with extreme highlights and shadows in the same frame. Avoiding these altogether can help you minimize color distortion. You can also mitigate it by zooming towards the middle of the focal range.
• Shoot in RAW – RAW is the best format for creating an editable base shot as it provides more photo data for an editing software tool to use in post-production. Because of that, RAW format makes it easier to correct and even remove chromatic aberration from your photos.
• Pay attention to your focal length settings – Zoom lenses are prone to creating chromatic aberration effects at their minimum and maximum focal lengths. Switching to prime lenses may help you avoid color distortions.
• Use small apertures – You can minimize the effect of chromatic aberration by stopping down multiple stops from the widest aperture of your camera lens. However, you’ll need to raise the ISO or slow your shutter speed to use small apertures for your photos.
• Subject position – Keeping your subject in the center of the frame can help you avoid the chromatic aberration effect.

Is Chromatic Aberration Always Bad?

No, chromatic aberration isn't always a problem. You can use it to add a unique visual appeal to your footage. Programs like After Effects, Premiere Pro, Adobe Photoshop, and Wondershare Filmora allow you to experiment with different chromatic aberration effects to transform a video or photo into a work of art.

They can separate the Red, Green, and Blue channels to add depth to your content, emphasize emotions, and make your footage look more natural. You can also use chromatic aberration to add a sense of movement to your photos and make your content more exciting and engaging.

Another great idea is to use color fringing in Photoshop to create an immersive retro or 3D photo effect. On the other hand, you can apply the same effect to your video footage in After Effects or Premiere Pro to achieve a unique look and make your content stand out.

Conclusion

This article has outlined the basic things you should know about chromatic aberration. We’ve discussed its meaning, causes, and examples. We also mentioned the two main types of chromatic aberration, including how to recognize them.

Chromatic aberration is common in photography, causing various color distortions that can temper your photos. Removing it may help you eliminate unrealistic artifacts from your images and enhance photo quality.

You can quickly mitigate chromatic aberration by avoiding high-contrast scenes, shooting in RAW format, and adjusting the aperture settings. If these tips don’t give the desired results, use chromatic aberration correction software like Wondershare Filmora to transform color distortion into a stunning visual effect and enhance your content.