Straightening a Scanned Image

If your experience is anything like mine, you know that it's next to impossible to scan a perfectly straight image. Some little gust of wind or seismic anomaly almost always seems to accompany the lowering of the scanner cover. The Straighten Image command works well for quick fixes, and the Crop tool offers more control for small or subtle adjustments, or in cases where you may want to change the alignment of an image for emphasis or a special effect.

To straighten a scanned image automatically

From the Image menu, choose one of the following:

• Rotate > Straighten and Crop Image (Figure 6.12).
  
  

  Figure 6.12. From the Image menu, you can straighten and crop an image in one step.

  

  
  
• Rotate > Straighten Image.
  
  The Straighten and Crop Image command will do its best to both straighten the image and delete the extra background surrounding the image. The Straighten Image command simply straightens without cropping (Figure 6.13).
  
  

  Figure 6.13. A scanned image (top) can be automatically straightened (center) or straightened and cropped (bottom).

  

  
  Both methods have their own sets of limitations. Rotate and Straighten works best if there is a space of at least 50 extra pixels or so surrounding the image. If this surrounding border is much smaller, Photoshop Elements can have a difficult time distinguishing the actual photograph from the border and may not do a clean job of cropping.
  
  Although you'll still need to manually crop your image after using the Rotate > Straighten Image command, this method is probably a better choice, because you avoid the risk of Photoshop Elements indiscriminately cropping out areas of your image you may want to keep. For the surest control, however, straighten your images using the Crop tool as described in the next procedure.
  
  

To straighten a scanned image using the Crop tool

1.	Select the Crop tool from the toolbox.
2.	In the image window, drag to select the area of the image you want to crop and straighten.
3.	Move the pointer outside the edge of the selection area until it changes to a rotation pointer (Figure 6.14). Figure 6.14. After you define a preliminary cropping selection (left), you can rotate the selection so that it aligns with your image border (right).
4.	Drag outside of the selection until its edges are aligned with the image border.
5.	Drag the selection handles, as necessary, to fine-tune the positioning; then press Enter/Return (Figure 6.15). Figure 6.15. Make final adjustments to your cropping selection (left) before Photoshop Elements automatically crops and straightens the image. The image is cropped and automatically straightened.