You can fix angles in Lightroom to straighten your photos using either an automatic tool or a manual slider located within the crop and straighten features.
Straightening Your Photos in Adobe Lightroom
Cropping and straightening are fundamental adjustments in photo editing, ensuring your horizons are level and vertical lines are straight. Lightroom offers intuitive tools to correct tilted images quickly and effectively.
Here are the primary ways to fix angles in Lightroom:
Automatic Straightening
Lightroom provides a convenient automatic option that can often correct slight tilts with a single click.
- How it works: Lightroom has an "Auto" button that will automatically straighten your photo for you.
- When to use it: This is a good option if your photo is only slightly tilted or if you need a quick adjustment. Lightroom analyzes the image content (like horizons or straight lines) to determine the correct angle.
Manual Straightening
For more control or when the automatic tool doesn't get it quite right, you can manually adjust the angle.
- How it works: If you want more control over straightening photos, you can use the angle slider located below the photo (typically within the Crop Overlay tool). You can drag this slider left or right to rotate the image.
- Alternatively: You can often click and drag directly on the area outside the crop boundary, or use a specific straighten tool (like drawing a line along a horizon or vertical edge, depending on the Lightroom version) to define what should be straight.
- When to use it: Use manual straightening when precision is needed, for significantly tilted images, or when the auto function misinterprets the scene.
Steps to Straighten (General Workflow)
While specific interface details might vary slightly between Lightroom Classic and Lightroom CC, the general process is:
- Open the photo you want to edit in the Develop module (Lightroom Classic) or the Edit panel (Lightroom CC).
- Locate and activate the Crop & Straighten tool (often represented by a square icon with rotation arrows).
- Choose your method:
- Click the "Auto" button to attempt automatic straightening.
- Use the angle slider (drag left/right) or the straightening tool (draw a line) for manual adjustment.
- Confirm the change (often by pressing Enter or clicking outside the crop area).
By utilizing these tools, you can easily correct crooked horizons and angled subjects, giving your photos a more polished and professional look.
