Editing 5 - Fixing Camera Tilt and Perspective

When you take a photo, you generally assume that your camera is level before pressing the shutter, but when you look at the photo later it tells a different story. Again, this is where editing can help to address the problem.

Tilt is particularly noticeable when the photo includes the horizon or a large body of water. The effect of leaning buildings, sloping water, wonky horizon, etc. tends to distract the viewers' attention. Horizontal camera tilt can normally be fixed using the "Straightening" tool found in most editing software, although the sensitivity of the correction may depend on the tool. Another effect, created when the camera is tilted relative to the subject plain, is called keystoning or perspective error. This is when you look up or down at a vertical object and the photo becomes distorted by converging verticals. A similar effect also occurs when the subject is not square to the camera and converges horizontally, as shown here. Not all editing tools can fix these problems, so you may have to find one that does. Note that the correction often ends up distorting the image in the opposite direction to fix it, and you may lose some of your photo.