Need Help!

Steelafan

Do these photos look crooked or am I just seeing things different? To me they all look off. This is a new trend I have been noticing latley. What could I be doing wrong??? Maybe I have not noticed it untill now but this is driving me crazy!! :huh












This is really starting to bother me. Is it possible the camera could be damaged or am I crazy? :pissed

Scott_Quier

Yup - the verticals don't look vertical to me. The cause? Can't even begin to guess what causes you to do this. I (consistantly and chronically) have this problem - my shots are usually anywhere between 0.8 and 1.7 degrees from square. For me, it's because my eyes are not in my head straight. The only chance I have of getting it right is if I line up a couple of focus points along either a vertical or a horizontal. If I forget ..... well that's just one of the things I know I need to fix in post.

RayLarson

I turn on the guides in the viewfinder. It has helped a lot. I am not on the level most of the time. :ivar

Steelafan

guides? :confused

frel

I think that he refers to the extra lines (generally the classic 3 third matrix) you can activate on some DSLR (Nokia does that in recent models). If like me you have a canon then use the focus points as guides. to align the vertical or horizontal lines (on line as to go through at least two points that are aligned on the viewfinder).
This is the best you can do if you are using the viewfinder free handed. But as Scott said it is easy to forget it and then most post processing software save the day.

pathfinder

The best way to avoid these kinds of problems, is to keep your sensor plane perfectly vertical. The easiest way to always accomplish this, is with a bubble level mounted in your hot shoe, with your camera on a tripod.

Art Scott

pathfinder wrote:

The best way to avoid these kinds of problems, is to keep your sensor plane perfectly vertical. The easiest way to always accomplish this, is with a bubble level mounted in your hot shoe, with your camera on a tripod.

with Pathy and those above........
YUP.....YUP......YUP.....leaning a litle to the right........

Steelafan

I went back a couple of days ago. Notice the ground I was standing on actually has a slight tilt to it. Didn't notice untill I went back for round 2.

Oh well.

BobbyMarshall

Do you use photoshop and/or lightroom? there is a ruler tool, which helps level off your framing. As long as you know there is or should be a straight line perpendicular to your view.

pathfinder

The important thing is not really just keeping the verticals vertical, but preventing the changes due to perspective if your sensor plane itself varies from vertical when shooting architectural subjects.

Even if you have the sides of your frame perfectly parallel to the sides of the buildings, you can still have your sensor plane out of vertical if you are not careful. This will cause the buildings to look like they are falling backward. This is MUCH more noticeable with wide angle shots, and much less apparent with telephoto shots.