This free digital scrapbooking tutorial was created using Adobe Photoshop 7.0 with Windows, but should be able to be adapted easily to other systems. If you have questions about how to do this, just ask on our message board!

It's happened to all of us. Sometimes you take the perfect photo, only to realize later that it wasn't level. You don't have to make do with this imperfection when creating your digital scrapbook layout -- follow these steps to crop your photo free of its crooked ways!

Open your image. Create a new copy of your photo; however, this time, give it some extra transparent background space. To do this in Photoshop:

• Select> All (or on your keyboard click Ctrl+A)

• Edit> Copy (or on your keyboard, click Ctrl+C)

• File> New (or on your keyboard, click Ctrl+N)

In the box that pops up, the actual size of your image will already be shown. Locate the “width” and “height” area, and select “inches,” if not already showing. Increase the width and height by two inches each. Be sure that “transparent” is selected. Now select “OK.” Then, select Edit> Paste (or Ctrl+V). This will paste your image into the center of your new document, giving it a two inch transparent border.

Our next task is placing a horizontal guide line on our photo, so we can accurately straighten our photo. I find the easiest way to do this is to have your rulers showing on your document. If you don't have your rulers showing, go to View> Rulers (or click Ctrl+R on your keyboard).

With your Move Tool (in your Tools Palette, top right tool), click in the top horizontal ruler and drag out a guide onto your image. Place the guide in a location in your image where you will be to judge the proper leveling of your photo. For me, I placed my guide just above the top of the horizontal bar on the sign post in my photo.

To move the photo so that it is perfectly level with your guide, click Edit> Transform> Rotate. Place your cursor near one of the corners of your photo, so that your cursor becomes “curved” with two arrows on the end. Click and hold your mouse, while rotating your photo until it is level. Release your mouse when you feel that you have achieved the amount of leveling that you want. If you are satisfied with the result, hit Enter on your keyboard. If you are not happy with it, simply hit Esc on your keyboard to redo this step.

At this point, your photo probably looks very crooked – even more crooked than before. To get it nice and straight, we will crop the photo, but first, we must get it ready. Again, with your rulers showing (as described above), you are going to add four guides to your image. You are going to place two horizontal guides at the two innermost corners, and two vertical guides at the two innermost corners.

After adding your guides, look at your image shown in the middle area of these guides. After cropping, this will be your image. If you are not satisfied with what you see, click and drag your guides until they are in their proper place. After they are in their proper place, you will want to make your cropping easier by making it “snap” to your guides. Click on View> Snap To> Guides.

Next, select the Crop Tool from your Tools Palette. Locate the inside of one of the corners that has been created by the guides. At this area, click, hold, and drag your mouse to the opposite corner, moving it as necessary so that the dotted lines created by your crop tool match up to the guides. Release your mouse button. The area that will be discarded after the cropping will appear darker than the rest of your photo. If you are happy with this result, hit Enter on your keyboard. If not, hit Esc to cancel the cropping and start this step over.

And there you have it, all finished. The sign in my photo is level and straight -- just the way I wanted it! Now I'm ready to create my digital scrapbooking layout!

Free digital scrapbook tutorial written by Brandie Valenzuela.

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