To change the angle or straighten a photo in Lightroom, you typically use the Crop & Straighten tool or the Transform panel to correct perspective distortions.
Adjusting the angle of a photo in Lightroom usually involves either rotating the image to straighten a crooked horizon or correcting perspective distortions that make objects look tilted or leaning. Here's how you can do it:
1. Straightening a Tilted Image
The most common way to correct a crooked horizon or simply rotate an image is using the Crop & Straighten tool.
- Access the Tool: Navigate to the Develop module. Select the Crop Overlay tool (shortcut key: R).
- Straighten Manually:
- Hover your mouse just outside a corner handle of the crop box. Your cursor will turn into a double-headed arrow curve.
- Click and drag to rotate the image until the horizon or a vertical line looks straight. The crop box will adjust automatically.
- Use the Straighten Tool:
- With the Crop Overlay tool active, click on the Straighten Tool icon (it looks like a level) in the Crop panel options.
- Click and drag a line along something that should be straight, like the horizon or a building edge. Lightroom will automatically rotate the image to make that line level.
- Auto Straighten: Some versions or contexts might offer an "Auto" button or similar feature within the Crop tool that attempts to straighten the image automatically.
2. Correcting Perspective Distortions (Transform)
When objects like buildings appear to be leaning or tilting excessively (vertical or horizontal distortion), you use the Transform panel to correct the perspective.
The Transform panel allows you to adjust vertical and horizontal lines to make them parallel or upright.
- Locate the Panel: In the Develop module, scroll down in the right-hand panels to find the Transform section.
- Use Automatic Options: The Transform panel often provides automatic options (like Auto, Level, Vertical, Full) that attempt to correct perspective with a single click. These are a great starting point.
- Use the Manual Transform Sliders:
- In addition to or instead of applying an Upright option, you can manually adjust the perspective of a photo using the sliders in the Transform panel.
- Vertical: Adjusts vertical perspective. Dragging this slider corrects leaning vertical lines. For example, fine-tune the vertical perspective of an adjusted photo by dragging the Vertical slider slightly to the left. This makes lines lean inwards at the top or bottom. Dragging to the right makes them lean outwards.
- Horizontal: Adjusts horizontal perspective. Dragging this slider corrects converging horizontal lines.
- Rotate: Offers precise rotation control, similar to the Crop tool's manual rotation but with a dedicated slider.
- Aspect: Changes the width-to-height ratio, which can sometimes help visually correct stretching caused by other transformations.
- Scale: Zooms in or out to fill the frame after applying transformations.
- X Offset / Y Offset: Shifts the image horizontally or vertically within the frame.
Understanding Transform Sliders
Here's a quick look at the key manual sliders in the Transform panel:
| Slider | Purpose | How it Affects Angle/Perspective |
|---|---|---|
| Vertical | Corrects vertical converging lines. | Makes vertical lines parallel or controls their tilt. |
| Horizontal | Corrects horizontal converging lines. | Makes horizontal lines parallel or controls their tilt. |
| Rotate | Rotates the image around its center. | Changes the overall angle/orientation of the image. |
| Aspect | Changes the aspect ratio post-transform. | Can subtly affect perceived angle by stretching/compressing. |
| Scale | Adjusts image size within the boundary. | Helps fill the frame after perspective correction. |
| X/Y Offset | Shifts the image horizontally/vertically. | Positions the corrected image in the frame. |
Both the Crop & Straighten tool and the Transform panel are essential for correcting angles and perspectives in your photos, helping you achieve straighter horizons and more accurate depictions of scenes.
