3.4

Chapter 16 Making Image Adjustments 319
Working with the Straighten Controls
An Overview of the Straighten Adjustment
When you shoot photos, environmental conditions often make it dicult to frame an image that
is level in relation to the horizon—either real or virtual. In Aperture, you can straighten an image
so that the horizon in the image is parallel to the bottom and top edges.
Before Straighten adjustment After Straighten adjustment
You can use two dierent methods to straighten your images. You can use either the Straighten
tool or the Straighten adjustment controls. However, you may nd it most ecient to use the
Straighten tool to quickly level the image so that it’s roughly straight and then use the Straighten
controls for more precision.
Rotating Images with the Straighten Tool
Rotating an image with the Straighten tool is as simple as selecting the tool and dragging within
the image to make it straight. However, it’s important to understand that although the image
appears to enlarge as you rotate it, Aperture actually crops the image so that it ts within its
rectangular border without blank edges appearing on the sides.
To straighten your image using the Straighten tool
1 Select a photo.
2 Select the Straighten tool in the tool strip or the Full Screen view toolbar (or press G).
The Selection tool changes to the Straighten tool.
3 With the Straighten tool selected, drag within the image to rotate it either clockwise
or counterclockwise.
As you rotate the image, a yellow grid overlay appears to help you make the horizon perfectly
straight, and the image is cropped to prevent gaps from appearing in the corners of the image.
Drag within the image
to rotate it.
Note: It’s a good idea to turn zooming o when straightening an image, so that the full image ts
within the Viewer. If an image is zoomed in to its actual size, you can turn o zooming by clicking
the Zoom Viewer button in the tool strip or the Full Screen view toolbar (or by pressing Z).