Photoshop Pros

If your photos are crooked or were scanned into your computer at an angle you don't need to toss them out. Instead, use Adobe Elements to quickly and easily straighten them out again. Here is an adobe photoshop elements tutorial that reveals how you can use Adobe Elements to straighten your crooked or tilted photo.

Two of the main tools you will use include the measure tool and the crop tool. We use the measure tool to define the level of the picture and straighten it. This is done by selecting the measure tool from the menu and clicking on the background of your photo and dragging it in a straight line to the other end. Doing this sets the level of your photo. Using this tool you can also level items such as roof lines as well as shelves or anything that should be in a straight line. Next you want to select the rotate canvas option to rotate the image and fix it on the canvas. You should see the canvas expanding to match the size of your photo. Finally you will want to use the crop tool to cut the extra unwanted edges.

When you use the crop tool you have the option of cropping and straightening at the same time. To use the crop tool you will want to select it and click and hold your mouse, creating a rectangle around the part of the photo that you wish to keep. You will want to position the horizontal edge on the horizontal line to set the level of the image. Again, you may be wanting to fix a roof line or an edgy shelf instead of a horizon which needs to be fixed in a perfect horizontal position. Now you want to drag the marquee so that its edge merges with the horizon line. This is done to align the edge to a horizontal position.

After you have fixed one edge repeat the steps to align the rest of the edges. Please note however that if you want to fix vertical lines on your image you do not want to align them with vertical borders. To correct these you want to use the 'perspective' option available in the option bar. The perspective option allows you to correct the vertical lines by fixing the corners of the boundary meant to be cropped to the right perspective. Make sure to keep all the corners in the assigned document.

While the perspective element is not immediately available with Photoshop Elements it can be activated by converting the chosen background into a layer by double clicking on the background. With the rise in the popularity of digital cameras also comes the increased amount of tilted and crooked photos. They usually occur when the photographer clicks the shutter while keeping the camera straight and looking at the back screen. This has the tendency to distort the photo by making it disproportionate. With these tips you no longer need to take 4-5 of the same shots of the same subject. Repetition not only wastes your camera's battery but the memory as well. Easily rid yourself of tilted photos with the amazing tools included inside Adobe Elements.