Camera Raw Straighten

Straighten Tool

Navigate to the Straighten Tool located in Camera Raw's tool palette. It looks like a little measuring angle.

How to use it

This tool is great for aligning horizons and anything similar. To use the tool, click on a point of interest and drag to another point that you want to match your first point in terms of the horizon line. In the situation of the photo shown here, we've clicked a starting point on the left, and dragged across to a finishing point on the right. Let go of the mouse and that completes the tools function.
This image we've dragged all the way across, but be aware that you have the option of just dragging across part of the image aswell.

The Crop

As you can see here, after this tool has been used it shows you that it automatically sets up a crop, and what that crop will look like. Our first point was slightly higher than the second point, so the crop tilts upwards from left and downwards on the right, as shown. That way the horizon line will be matched. The only problem with this tool is that you don't actually see the change, or the rotation that will take effect, while using it in Camera Raw.

Back in Bridge

If you want to see the effect quickly, hit Done while in Camera Raw, and you will see it update in Bridge and actually rotate the image for you to see.

A verticle crop

Straighten Tool can also be used in a verticle format as well. For instance, in this image, if we click at the top of the tree and drag down the base of the trunk, it will adjust the crop and the horizon line accordingly.

Finish

Here's how are crop looks after the previous step was completed. So feel free to play around with this tool and get a feel for it. It can be extremely useful in correctly aligning your photographs.

*End Tutorial*