It's happened
to all of us. We come across a great photo shot, and while
framing the image, pay more attention to the framing
parameters than the leveling of the image. After
downloading the digital photo and realizing we have a
world class photographic image, we also realize the image
is way out of level. If the digital photo just had a level
horizon, it would certainly be an award winning
photographic image. How can this be fixed?
There is a very simple technique that can be used to level
a digital photo, or to change the basic orientation of the
image using any quality image editing software. For this
article, the techniques described will be with using Adobe
Photoshop CS. The procedure names and locations may be
slightly different in other image editing software
applications, but the basic techniques will be very
similar.
This digital imaging technique should be used with the
original image resolution of the digital photo. This way,
the original image will not be resampled or re-sized. You
should re-save the leveled file as an archived or library
file at the digital photo's native pixel resolution. If
you ever think you will want photo enlargements of the
digital photo, this will yield the finest quality print
results. The steps described below will include procedures
to maintain the digital photo's original pixel resolution.
Step One:
The first step is to open the original digital photo file
in Photoshop. For this example, I have selected a basic,
not World Class for sure, digital photo that is obviously
out of level and would be a much better image if it were
just straightened up a bit.
Step Two:
The next thing to do is to place the photo on a background
that is a few inches larger, on all sides of the image,
than the photo. To do this, you must create a layer with
the photo. Follow these steps:
Click - Select > All then Edit > Copy
Close the photo window.
Click - File > New - A New File window will open with
the copied photo's parameters.
Leave the Resolution the same, and for the width and
height select inches. Add a couple inches to the values
already present. This will make the background larger than
the photo. With higher resolution photos, you may need to
increase the background size a little more to accommodate
the degree of leveling needed.
Click - OK then Edit > Paste
The photo will be layered over the background creating a
new image file. You should have your "layers"
window open and make sure the photo's layer is selected.
After you paste the photo on the background it will be
automatically selected. To open the layers window:
Window > Layers
Step Three:
Now you need to bring a guide line over the photo as a
perfectly horizontal reference. To do this, select the
"move" tool from the tool palette (top right
tool), and drag a guide line from the top horizontal
ruler. Place over the photo at a point where the reference
will work best for you when leveling
Step Four:
Now you need to "rotate" the photo until the
image looks good to you in reference to the guide line.
Make sure the photo's layer is selected in the
"layers" window. It will be automatically
selected after you paste the photo on the background.
Click - Edit > Transform > Rotate
A dashed box will appear around the photo. From the corner
of the photo and dashed box, drag the image in a circular
motion until it appears to be level with the reference
guide line and when it looks good to you, click the check
mark at the top right to set the rotation. If you want to
redo the leveling, click Edit > Undo, and repeat the
steps above.
Step Five:
After rotating the photo to the point where it appears
level to you, it needs to be cropped to square it up. You
need to use guide lines again to set the parameters of the
crop. Simply drag guide lines from the vertical and
horizontal rulers with the "move" tool, to the
innermost corners of the rotated photo.
Step Six:
To properly crop the photo to the guide lines you have
set, you need to do a couple things. First, you need to
make sure the crop will go just to the guide lines. Do
this by clicking View > Snap to > Guides. The
crop box will then snap right to the guide lines when you
drag the crop box. Second, you need to make sure you do
not resample the original photo file when cropping. Select
the "crop" tool from the tools palette. In the
crop parameter fields at the top of the screen, click the
"clear" button. When setting the crop, the
original photos resolution will remain unresampled.
Select crop tool > Clear crop parameters > Drag crop
box to guide line corners >
Click check mark to set the crop. Your photo is now
leveled and cropped. To save as a new image file,
"flatten" the layers, Layers > Flatten
then File > Save as.
This simple technique can be used not only for leveling
photos, but also for making artistic changes to the basic
orientation of any digital photo. This method will
maintain the original pixel resolution of the image file.
Any photo enlargement, photo enhancement or other applied
functions should be performed after using this technique.
You can visit the following link for further in-depth
information concerning photo
enlargement and digital photo processing.
If you have any questions concerning this photo leveling
technique, please feel free to contact
me. |
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