Straightening of crooked pictures

[lappino]

It all started with this photo:

http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=2431134

I thought I could give it a try...

I put the answer to the author's question here in the forum, for it was easier to upload the photo. Anyway, this was the best I was able to do in about 15 minutes time: copying the picture in MS Paint, putting it on a significantly larger "canvas" (abt. 3000x2000 with original picture being 1024x768, and there is really no reason in keeping such a small resolution!), so I could copy and paste border parts of the image at the sides. It was necessary if I wanted to keep the ship intact when I rotated the image in Picasa (more than 30 degrees, btw!). Cloning tool was used to try to even the edges of copied parts, with uneven success.

Hopefully, the result is acceptable for posting it here.

[Patrick Deenik]

Hello Lappino,

Thank you very much for helping me out with that picture of the Autumn Wave.I still don't much of your explanation but I will ask my daughter to tell me slowly.
Thank you again.
Regards,

Patrick

[pieter melissen]

Pity that the original is no longer visible.

[Patrick Deenik]

Hallo Pieter,

I promised that I would delete the original and I already got the famous "considered for deletion" so I did. The ship on  the picture went from left under to right top, just to fit in the photo.


Regards ,

Patrick

[pieter melissen]

but if you still have the original you can attach it to a post in the forum....

[lappino]

If I may...

(After all, I had to download the picture to play with it...)

[Patrick Deenik]

Thank you for attaching the original picture.
As you know I am not a computerwizzard.

[pieter melissen]

Thanks Lappino, I see what you did with putting the original on a large "plate" which you then can rotate without the edges of the original "falling off". As you said you used MS Paint. Was there an English name for that procedure? I use ACDSee and I can't find such an option in my programme, probably because I do not know what I am looking for.

[lappino]

I used MS Paint to create a large "canvas" file, then saved is as a .jpg file (.png is default option); then I went to Picasa, and used "Straighten" function.
Since I have added copied parts of the original photo on the both sides so I can have more "meat" to play with, I had to use "Retouch" (Photoshop equivalents being "Clone", also "Heal") to mask the edges of copied parts, to make them blend into the original. Results were less than perfect, but I think I made the photo "acceptable".

I used ACDSee long time ago, mainly as a simple viewer. I don't know if the free version has the equivalent of Retouch/Clone/Heal. Now I am using FastStone for viewing and batch renaming/resizing, also for sharpening; I am using Picasa for straightening, cropping and auto contrast, as well as "Neat Image" program for noise reduction, especially useful with photos taken with high ISO values.

Cheers

Vlad

[pieter melissen]

Thanks Vlad, the current version of ACDsee has clone/heal function which work pretty well. Noise reduction is also a nice feature, including of cause all the options for lighting and sharpening. I have not found any function of copying parts of the picture and move it. It might be there but I never really felt the need (It sounds too much like photoshop in the negative sense of the word.) I'll look if a can find a function to move a single picture to a larger background picture, which then indeed can be filled up with the "missing" parts that result from rotating.