

#Horizon line software#
But usually the software will find it for you and apply an automatic correction. You might need to help the software find your lens by selecting the manufacturer and perhaps even the model.

The software will then apply an automatic correction tailored to the lens you used. But another way to fix it is to cure the distortion, which can be done easily in Lightroom and ACR.įind the box labeled Lens Corrections, and check the box next to Enable Profile Corrections. You can fix this with the leveling functions mentioned already. The sag will show on one side (the one you didn’t crop) but not the other, and so your picture will appear to be leaning to one side. This really affects things when you crop one side of your picture. That’s because most lenses have at least some barrel distortion, which makes the horizon line sag toward the sides of the picture. Sometimes your picture will appear crooked even when it’s level. You can also do it by filling in the angle percentage on the far right. Click and move it around to straighten your horizon line. The cursor will change to a curved line with arrows at either end, which indicates that clicking and dragging will now change the angle of the picture. In Lightroom or Adobe Camera Raw (ACR), select the Crop Tool and then move your cursor slightly off the picture. Virtually every photo editing software package in existence has a crop tool, so it should be familiar to you. The easiest way to straighten your horizon line is with the crop tool. We’ll go from the most obvious tools that you probably already know about (but worth a little refresher) to some less obvious tools and techniques. So let’s talk about tools and techniques for keeping your horizon line level. Add in lens distortion, and you can end up with a convoluted mess. It gets especially hard when it’s mixed up with other elements in your picture that aren’t straight either. Sometimes it can be hard to tell whether your horizon line is straight or not, even when using the level in your camera. And make it a part of your workflow so you do it every time. Do whatever works for you, whether it’s making a checklist, leaving yourself a note or whatever. In this article I’ll walk you through ways to make sure that your horizon line is straight.īut before we get into that, start making sure you actually check it. Beginners are notorious for overlooking this, but it happens all the time. Posting a good photo only for it to appear crooked can be embarrassing. You might not notice it, but it’s often the first thing people will see when looking at your photo. Still, it’s surprising how often people end up with crooked lines. You can’t do this kind of photography for long without encountering the Rule of Thirds and the Golden Ratio, both of which are usually applied to the horizon line. Even if there isn’t a true horizon line in your picture, there’s often a line running through the picture that determines whether it will appear level. The horizon line is a big deal in landscape and other outdoor photography.
