It happens to the best of us: we take a quick pic, hoping to blog it or print it. And despite good intentions, it never comes out straight! Here’s a quick fix in any version of Photoshop to straighten and correct perspective of those frustrating photographs.
*Edit: Added a second method that might be less frustrating for many users. Check out both methods to see which one suits you better.
The Manual Method
I started with this pic of a Doctor Who novel I needed a straight image of. My picture is both crooked and receding in perspective, so I have my work cut out for me.
Press until you have the Polygonal Lasso tool. It looks like the selected tool above.
Draw points around your image by clicking the corners.
Press to copy your selection to a new layer.
Turn your Background layer off by clicking the .
At this point, I want to give myself a little more room to work with.
Press to bring up “Canvas Size.”
I add an arbitrary amount of extra space around each side.
Draw a horizontal rule by clicking on the and dragging into your image area.
Draw rules around your image. You want to create a rectangle that will become the new size and shape of your image. Err on the side of cutting into your image.
Go to Edit > Transform > Distort while your layer is selected.
Grab the points and stretch and warp your image until it more or less accurately fills the rules you drew. Notice I am not moving the points to fill the rules, but the image.
Without releasing your Distort Transformation, click the to draw more Horizonal Guides. Use them to check the straightness of lines in your image and adjust appropriately.
Press to release your Transformation.
Press for the crop tool. Click and drag to create a square edged rectangle around your image. Don’t worry about cutting off some of the image.
Press to finalize your crop. Your image is now straightened, in perspective, with clean edges around the sides.
A Second (Easier) Method
This is a method I would recommend not only for Photoshop Newbies, but for anyone that isn’t a crazy perfectionist that loves to do things manually.
Begin with your skewed image. Press for the crop tool.
Draw a rough outline around your skewed image.
You should see a “Perspective” button in your Control Palette at the top of your screen. Turn it on if it is not. (If you don’t see it, you likely have a version of Photoshop that doesn’t support this)
Drag the corners of your crop to the skewed corners of your image. Your lines shouldn’t be squared off anymore.
Press to release your crop.
As you can see, this method is pretty much just as good, and faster. If you don’t want to worry about tweaking your image by hand, this is really the way to go.
Photography by the author. Doctor Who image assumed fair use.
