Now you can make
the image seamless by using either the clone stamp or erasing
method and you won’t be fighting the lighting!

Check out the Difference

Original

Corrected
While most folks
may not bother to go this extra step, if you are looking for
a more professional and polished looking product it is these
little things that make a HUGE difference.
Your probably never
going to take an image that is truly level, the camera wont
be level, the subject may not be level. If all that is wrong
with the image is that it has a slight rotation that is a pretty
easy fix.
Let’s work
on a background image as this is the kind of thing that a lot
of outdoor rooms need and a background with a seam is a big
illusion breaker NO NO! Just say no to seams!
Okay, say hellooo
to Long Beach California! Not the best shot, my cheepo camera
hates dusk so its a little grainy, I’d do a bit more to
it if I was going to actually use it on a product but it will
work to illustrate this section.

First off you will
need to unlock the background layer so you can fully edit it.
Do this by double clicking on the layer in the layers window,
a new layer dialog box will open up, just hit Okay and the background
layer will now be unlocked.

Now go to Edit/Transform/Rotate
and you will be able to spin the layer around.

Make your rotational
adjustment and the click the check up top to accept the edit.

Once you are level
you will need to crop the image as there are parts you can’t
see now overhanging the canvas. Select the whole image with
the marquee tool then Image/Crop

Resize the image
to 512x512 then Offset the image in the horizontal direction
256 pixels. (you won’t have to do the vertical direction
for a backdrop texture.)

Now you can then
make the image seamless. For this image I am only going to use
the clone stamp. The sky and water will need extra attention
to make them appear even. Take your time, this one is a lot
more difficult that it looks. I’d recommend zooming in
real close for the dock detail and using a small brush and then
zooming out for the water and sky with a bigger softer brush.
You will want to flip the offset back and forth 256 pixels to
make sure the sky and water are smooth.

TA DA!
Section B Coming
Soon!