Over the years I’ve had a number of photos sent in to me to review and there is one small editing issue that I see a lot of people miss. And I definitely understand why… people in general have a hard time seeing when a photo is crooked and when you have wildlife in certain scenes, it can be even harder. So I put together this quick tip for you. Enjoy!
PS: I realize that ripples don’t always go left to right perfectly and that winds and currents change. Please feel free to NOT LEAVE A COMMENT letting me know that. You’ll realize I often say “generally” this works and that is the case here. Thanks! 🙂
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I love teaching and photography... In that order. I feel that enjoying photography, and photo editing can get WAY too complicated. So my personal mission (and favorite thing to do), is to create education that simplifies the process of taking great photos, and how to edit them to get the results you’ve always wanted.
Great tip, thank you Matt.
I live in very hilly country so I often try to make sure that I have no horizon in the water pictures, I have would never have thought of using the ripples to straighten water pictures!
Thank you so much Matt. Really good tips .
good tips, I never thought about striating birds in the water, I always look at the horizon but this was new for me. Now of course I have to back and look at all my birds!
Not yet doing many bird photography and when I do get into a little more this is a great tip. Thanks Matt.
Thanks for the tip! That will make life a little easier!
Extremely helpful, thank you
Sloping skylines/horizons are unforgivable! Like the tips for water without a horizon. Thanks again.
Great tip! I often catch the crooked horizons or grass lines or water banks but if it’s just a pool of water or a background of sky I don’t good long look. Sometimes on first and second pass I just don’t take the time to look so it may be months down the road that notice an image needs straightened. Thanks for the reminder. BTW, I wish LrC would allow me to make a processing notes document that popped whenever I first import a batch of images.
Great tip! Thank you very much. I am really I
Enjoying your course.
Sharman Maher
Thank you for that tip Matt. I always make sure that the horizon is straight but I have never considered straightening the water.
Maybe I am wrong on this but where I live the land in the background is not always flat level. I do see your point and know I can’t change your thoughts on this .
Hi Jeff. The video showed some guidelines… not rules and I hope everyone knows that every location can present it’s own issues leveling a photo. That said, A photo should be straight (well, that is mostly a rule). However you want to do that for where ever you live, because straight lines are different for your location, is up to you. I can only provide some suggestions for something I see and this is an issue I see often. Thanks.
Wow, can’t believe it takes over 5 mins to explain such an obvious issue. But you do it well.
difficult anyone would get this wrong! particularly with water, But some coastlines can be tricky particularly when it is tending to the horizon.
Thanks, Matt. I’ve been using “ripples” for leveling bird photos in water without a horizon for a while. It’s good though to have that technique validated as generally working. I’ll now feel more solid about approaching leveling in that fashion.
With birds on calm and highly reflective water, I will adjust leveling to make sure a line drawn from the bird’s eye, or tip of beak, to its reflection is perfectly vertical…that is, 90° to the bottom of the image.
Thanks a bunch Matt, I didn’t think about using the water ripping. Does make a big difference
ml33@mop-rng.org.il
I like the presentation to clarify the level of where the photograph should be
It is one of the first things I do is to check the level of the photo
It is a great reminder for photographers that to be aware of the level of the photos
So happy to see others have slanted horizons in their photos. I thought it was just me!
If it helps, I’ve seen at least 10 in various online groups since I posted this video a few days ago. It’s definitely a problem 🙂
Simple, yet effective, as your ideas are always! Thanks
In Both Photoshop and Lightroom, when you are in the crop tool you can hold down the Ctrl/CMD key and it will automatically select the straighten tool. Your cursor will change showing you the level.
Thanks Matt–it used to just drive me crazy, now it will drive me crazy with the addition of an irritating sound effect 😉
Another method, when available, is to line up reflections on the water with the out-of-the-water source. Reflections and their sources should almost always align exactly vertically.
Thanks for the tip. I am already starting to go through all my bird photos to see which ones need to be straightened.
Important tip. Many even very good photographers seem to overlook leveling for some reason. I always look for at least 1 element in my photos to help me level them if they’re off. Sometimes, that’s not an easy task!
I believe this concept was drilled into me about 8 years ago and yes, it IS nails on a chalkboard when I see an image that is clearly out of level! It is so distracting that it really keeps the viewer from appreciating what is good about the image otherwise.
Your absolutely right Matt. Now that you have pointed it out I can see it more clearly. I’m a stickler for straight photos but now have to check my birding ones ? Thanks for the pointer ??
Great tip that often gets overlooked.
Thank you for this. It already drove me crazy to see this. I’m hoping some others have an”aha”moment! I’m also from Tampa area and know exactly the group
🙂 I didn’t want to name it, and there’s so many wonderful photos that get posted… but I see them crooked and I cringe. It would be different if it was a group that simply didn’t care. But I know many of these people invest in cameras and lenses and this is such a simple fix. Thanks.