Straighten a Crooked Horizon in a photograph using Photoshop
Sometimes we take a photograph taking great care, but when we view the picture back, we notice that in our haste to capture the "perfect" image, the picture is slightly crooked. And with the moment gone to re-take the photo, the only option to fix this problem is to use image editing software on our computer.
Using Camera RAW
In this tutorial we will use the image on the left. Camera RAW refers to the format most Digital SLR cameras use to record photographs.
Open a copy of the affected RAW image in Photoshop. Photoshop RAW will automatically open, with the image displayed.
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Click on the 'Straighten' tool
.
Left click and drag in the image area to indicate what is the true horizon line. Photoshop Camera RAW automatically rotates and crops the image.
Now click 'Open Image' to bring the image into Photoshop for further editing.
Now, this is all fantastic if you have a camera that records in Camera RAW format... But how do we straighten a JPEG image for instance? Well, read on, and we'll find out.
With the image loaded in Photoshop, click Image > Rotate Canvas > Arbitrary.
In the box thats opens select CW or CCW (Clockwise or counter-clockwise) to indicate the direction of the rotation.
Add a number in the angle to rotate by box. This will vary depending on each photograph, so a bit of trial and error is required. Our sample image requires 5.6 degrees.
Now that the image is rotated to our liking, we need to crop the corners to make it look like a proper photo again.
Click the 'Rectangular Marquee tool'
and select a rectangular area inside the image to mark where we want to crop it.
Select Image > Crop to crop the image and view our straightened photograph. Remember to save it and we are done.
The finished image can be seen below.

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