P H O TO S H O P F O R D I G I TA L P H O TO G R A P H E R S

Bonus Lesson #2
Instructor:
Scott Kelby

Todays Lesson:
A Great New Way to Straighten Photos in CS2
The Measure tool was a step in the right direction, but this
method is even better!

Key Concepts:
In Photoshop CS2, Adobe introduced a new filter for correcting lens problems. The filter is found under the
Filter menu, under Distort, choose Lens Correction.
When the dialog appears, turn off the Show Grid checkbox (so you can see whats going on), and then
in the Lens Corrections toolbar (on the top left side of the dialog), choose the Straightening tool (its the
second tool from the top).
Drag this tool along something that you know is supposed to be staight in your photo (like a horizon line,
or the side of a building, etc.) and it instantly straightens the photojust click OK. Of course, anytime you
rotate a photo youll have to use the Crop tool to crop away the exposed edges, but this does it quicker
and better than any other tool Ive used.

Keyboard Shortcuts Used:

To lock in your cropping (while using the Crop tool), just press the Return key (PC: Enter key) on your keyboard.

Additional Material Not Covered In Class:

If youre not using Photoshop CS2, you can still straighten your photosit just takes a couple more steps.
Choose the Measure tool from the regular Photoshop toolbar, then drag it along something in your photo
thats supposed to be straight. Then go under the Image menu, under Rotate Canvas, and choose Arbitrary. When the dialog appears, just click OK and the photo will be straighted (you dont have to type any
numbers into the dialogwhen you use the Measure tool it puts the proper amount of straightening in
there for you.