Let's get it straight

[BigRed]

Following my last Photoshop tip, I was overwelmed by requests to do more (well request singular if we are being pedantic, but I'm easily overwelmed).

This is for those of you suffering from Heavy Shutter Finger Syndrome, where you stab at the button with such force that the camera rotates, or are just too pissed to hold it straight in the first place.

We'll start with an example picture:



deliberately crooked, honest

Open it up in Photoshop (I'm using CS2, things may be in slightly different places in other versions).

Select the Ruler tool, it's in the same set as the eyedropper tool, and click on two points which should be linked with a vertical or horizontal line once the picture is straight:



see the line on the door above.

Next, select Image, Rotate Canvas, Arbitrary...



and the following popup box will appear with the values already filled in, you just have to press OK:



Now select the crop tool and add your crop:



Enter and the job is done:



So sit back and admire the picture..... Who said the right hand side isn't straight? There's no pleasing some folk..

Advanced straightening then...

Click on Select then All. In fact this is something you will do quite often, so learn the shortcut Ctrl A.. go to Edit...Transform...Distort...



and you can just drag one of the corners about, or one of the sides to stretch/squeeze it.

Then go off and crop as before.

One final point, I often find instructions don't work in Photoshop. In fact I couldn't get the crop to work the way I wanted it to originally, it was maintaining the scale. If this sort of thing happens to you, try resetting your tools to their default settings:

[cimboc]

I don't have any wonky pictures that I'm aware of (MM this maybe handy for you ) but cheers for the simple clear tutorial.

Well done

[buad hai]

Cimboc, what do you use for photo editing and cleanup?

I'm a big fan of Graphic Converter. Has tools very similar to Photoshop.

[cimboc]

^ Unfortunately I've only been playing for the last couple of weeks (since Bustak did the "pop" thread) so definitely still testing the waters.
I love photography and figure we better make the most of our Canon 400D and while the kids still look good in photo's
I'm slowly trying to sieve through the photography threads and the links to programs you all use.

[lovethai]

this is especially useful when shooting horizont/sea/sky. when using big zoom camera, its often impossible to get it exactly straight so ill end up fixing lots of my shots this way

[melvbot]

Ive been using Pixelmator on the Mac. Its just been updated with a few new tools and features.Its cheap around £30/$59.Photoshops overkill for me.
You get a similar effect by using show grid then rotate the canvas til its straight

[jizzybloke]

All of my pictures look like that

[melvbot]

All of my pictures look like that

One leg shorter than the other?

[jizzybloke]

^just a crap photogropher!