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Today’s video came about as a result of a message sent into the Request Box and the request read:

“How to straighten the background of an image (eg. more for woodland) and keep the subject as shot”

@jadekcphotography

The video tutorial for how to straighten backgrounds in photoshop can be found here:

https://youtu.be/hSJeMcpyYds

Essentially, to complete this task we need to break the image down and work on it in a few different parts. Now, as always with Photoshop there are lots of ways to do the same job, but for me, this would be my process:

Step 1: Identify the zones

In most cases just looking at the image will highlight what needs to be changed if you are wanting to complete this process. In the video above, I opt to draw the areas on a blank layer to be super sure of what needs to change. I colour this in black for ease of reference.

Step 2: Split out the zones

Next, you need to duplicate your layer and create a mask that specifically selects the offending wonky zone. I use select and mask to select the subject, refine that further and then expand the mask manually to include the rest of the zone we want to keep safe.

Next, I just invert this mask and remove the top section of the mask.

Next, I remove the subject from this particular layer, which gives us a broader background area. Then, I heal that area to ensure it looks realistic and accurate.

Now, reorder the layers, so the Background is under the subject and foreground in the layers stack.

Step 3: Transform and correct the individual zone that is the problem

Now you need to transform the background (Command + T or Control + T on Windows) to straighten it up.

Heal and fix up the entire background layer as needed, sometimes this is not necessary.

Step 4: Repair the image

Finally, just blend the mask on the subject layer to get a nice transition from foreground to background.

Et Voila, job done!