Adobe Photoshop Tips and Tutorials
Leveling The Horizon.
Wow, did I miss the boat here or what?! (pun intended) Since
water does not flow up-hill and boats don't generally travel up-hill,
we are going to attempt to non-destructively fix this small problem.
1. After opening the image in Photoshop, go to the Layers Palette and right click on the
Background Layer. Then click on the "Duplicate Layer" choice. A "Duplicate Layer" dialog
box will open...click "OK". This creates a new layer called "Background Copy". Click on the
little eyeball next to the "Background" Layer to deactivate this layer. This will ensure that you
preserve your original image and work on a copy. I do this out of habit on all of my photos.
Feel free to download this image to follow along in this
tutorial.
2. Now, click on the Filter menu, then Distort, then Lens Correction. (Filter>Distort>Lens Correction.)
(Click on the image to make it larger, then Right Click, Save As.
After saving the image onto your hard drive, locate it and open it
up in Photoshop.)
3. When the Lens Correction dialogue opens de-select the "Show Grid" option at the bottom of the dialogue. Then click on
the "Straighten Tool" at the top left of the dialogue. This will bring up a tiny cross-hair cursor that you will use to level your
image. Click and drag along any part of the image that you feel should be horizontal. I chose the line on the side of the boat.
You can choose any of the red lines that travel horizontally along the boat etc. When you release the mouse button your
image will automatically align itself vertically. If it just doesn't quite look right to you just click and drag again in the same spot
or try another location until it looks correct. Here is a little secret or two: You can also level your image horizontally by clicking
and dragging along a VERTICAL line! Also, if you get to the point that you would like to just start over, don't just hit the
"Cancel" button hold down the ALT key on your keyboard and the "Cancel" button changes to a "Reset" button. This will allow
you to start back at the beginning without having to exit and restart the lens correction dialogue. This little "alt" key trick works
in most Photoshop dialogue boxes.
are welcome!
As a reminder, all of my photographs are Copyright ©Tommy Simms. If you are
interested in using any of my photos, please feel free to contact me.
4. Now that you have "Leveled" the photo, it's time to crop it. We can do that in the same dialogue box by clicking and
highlighting the number in the box in the bottom right hand corner of the dialogue screen. Then using your UP arrow key on
your keyboard (or the slider where it says scale) bump up the number until the "checkerboard" area disappears. Click "OK".
That's it! As I mentioned before, there are many ways to accomplish the same tasks in Photoshop. There are other ways
to level an image but this one is quick and extremely accurate.
What's
