Photoshop Elements: Straighten Leaning Buildings

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Adobe® Photoshop® Elements 7

January 14, 2009

Have you noticed that when you take a photo of a building with the camera lens tilted up, the building leans inward and looks more like a trapezoid than a rectangle in the resulting image? In photography, this is known as the keystone effect, where the top of the building is narrower than the base and the sides lean inwards. Sometimes it makes for an interesting image, but at other times, you would prefer a straight building.

In Photoshop Elements, you can use the Correct Camera Distortion filter to fix the keystone effect and straighten the building.

Before After
Keystone effect before Keystone effect after

To fix the keystone effect:

  1. Open the image you want to improve.

  2. From the Filter menu, select Correct Camera Distortion. The Correct Camera Distortion window is displayed.

  3. In the Correct Camera Distortion window:

    1. Check Show Grid to show the grid.
    2. Move the Vertical Perspective slider to the left until an edge of the building aligns vertically with the grid, or as desired.
    3. Click OK. Notice that the entire image now looks like an inverted keystone. You must crop the image to eliminate the blank space added in the processing.
    Correct Camera Distortion filter

  4. Crop the image as desired.

    Crop

Tips

Because you must crop the corrected image, this technique works best with source images that have extra space on all sides of the building.

For taller buildings than the one-story Coney Island above, your brain expects to see at least a little distortion in perspective. Make sure you do not over-correct for the keystone effect.

Before After
Keystone effect before Keystone effect after
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Updated on November 9, 2009