Railfan Technology > Camera tilt question

A while back, I received a comment about some shots I posted. The commenter said that if I tilted the camera slightly, the shots would look better. So today I thought I would give it a try. Comments please. If you have an opinion, which looks better? The pics are about as comparable as I could find.

I'm trying to improve my "skills" so any comments are appreciated. Thanks.

Mike

1. Shot from 6/21/14 with camera held level
2. Shot from today with the camera slightly tilted to the left.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/25/14 11:54 by PALuvR.

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No. 2 looks way better to me.

Ya, I agree with the above. #2 looks a lot better than #1 to me.

Mark

try putting your camera on a "level" surface (one that has been leveled with a level both ways) and snap a photo. i would like to see how that turns out. attached are both of your photos with a horizontal red line drew across them. which one looks more level??

dave, out.

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Regardless of what you have learned,AFAIC all
photographs are framed using a vertical plane,not
horizontal.
Use a signal or pole as a reference,but do not show
them in your shot.
Try shooting a 3/4 shot using the ground (horizontal)
as level.You picture will look like it is down hill
not level.

Uncle Joe,Seffner,Fl.

davebb71 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> try putting your camera on a "level" surface (one
> that has been leveled with a level both ways) and
> snap a photo. i would like to see how that turns
> out. attached are both of your photos with a
> horizontal red line drew across them. which one
> looks more level??
>
> dave, out.


#2 because he tilted his camera.A NO NO.

Uncle Joe

davebb71 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> try putting your camera on a "level" surface (one
> that has been leveled with a level both ways) and
> snap a photo. i would like to see how that turns
> out. attached are both of your photos with a
> horizontal red line drew across them. which one
> looks more level??
>
> dave, out.

I'll try shooting a "level" photo tomorrow and post it.

Mike

i suggested that because i know people who see something very different when they look through the viewfinder than i do. their pictures come out crooked, but they can't explain why. shooting off of a level surface, you'll find out how that picture looks. good luck and have fun. dave, out.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/25/14 13:20 by davebb71.

What Uncle Joe said. I use vertical references such as trees, phone poles, handrail stanchions, etc. to level my images. How can you "level" a horizontal reference on a shot with one-point perspective? It would have to be a straight side-on shot.

davebb71 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> i suggested that because i know people who see
> something very different when they look through
> the viewfinder than i do. their pictures come out
> crooked, but they can't explain why. shooting off
> of a level surface, you'll find out how that
> picture looks. good luck and have fun. dave, out.

Different lenses and focal lengths can exaggerate this as well.

Ive been to slide shows and some guys have most every shot they take with the hand held camera pushed down on the right side when they take the picture. The same guys have straight level shots when they shoot telephoto shots from a tripod. They just cant keep the camera stable when they shoot handheld.

davebb71 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> i suggested that because i know people who see
> something very different when they look through
> the viewfinder than i do. their pictures come out
> crooked, but they can't explain why. shooting off
> of a level surface, you'll find out how that
> picture looks. good luck and have fun. dave, out.

Posted from iPhone

biff Wrote:
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> Ive been to slide shows and some guys have most
> every shot they take with the hand held camera
> pushed down on the right side when they take the
> picture. The same guys have straight level shots
> when they shoot telephoto shots from a tripod.
> They just cant keep the camera stable when they
> shoot handheld.
>
> davebb71 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > i suggested that because i know people who see
> > something very different when they look through
> > the viewfinder than i do. their pictures come
> out
> > crooked, but they can't explain why. shooting
> off
> > of a level surface, you'll find out how that
> > picture looks. good luck and have fun. dave,
> out.
>
> Posted from iPhone

Yep, I do plan to use my tripod and be sure everything is level. I must confess that I rarely use my tripod and that might be my problem. We'll see!

Mike

Your camera may have an electronic level blt in. Canon 6D and 7D does.

I'm not certain where the idea of tilting the camera came up as being a good idea, but I don't recommend it. I shoot by hand only as my tripod is always occupied by my camcorder and sometimes I end up with unlevel photos. It's not an issue for me as I simply correct it as much as possible in Lightroom.

I took your first photo and leveled it out in Lightroom.

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I use Picasa for editing my shots and it seems that they get a little out of focus when corrected for level. Might be my imagination?

Mike

I'm with good guys Uncle Joe and trainjunkie.

To get an artificial vertical when there are no vertical objects around, I've used
a hot shoe bubble level such as the first one shown on this page:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/tripods/Ntt/hot+shoe+bubble+levels/N/0

I use it only in the left-right function. You can frame the shot in the viewfinder,
move your field of view up to the bubble and level things while still holding things
composed in the viewfinder.

Avoid the bulls-eye levels, about useless in my view for railfan photography.

Be Well,

Tim Colbert K3HX

Celebrating 50 years in amateur radio.

I like #2, but only because there is less UP in the picture. ;P Good on you for honing your skills. I've gone photographing with my father-in-law, who has been a shutterbug for over half a century, and he always took fewer, better shots than me, even when I had the better camera.

Vanakatherock Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm not certain where the idea of tilting the
> camera came up as being a good idea, but I don't
> recommend it. I shoot by hand only as my tripod is
> always occupied by my camcorder and sometimes I
> end up with unlevel photos. It's not an issue for
> me as I simply correct it as much as possible in
> Lightroom.
>
> I took your first photo and leveled it out in
> Lightroom.

Another good thing to do in Lightroom, is correct for lens distortion first. If Adobe has a profile for the lens you are using, try correcting that first. I've had shots that looked good in the viewfinder, but then appeared "off" when I downloaded the image for processing. Correcting the lens distortion took out the bulk of what bothered me, and lessened the "tweaking" that needed to be done in perspective correction of the actual image.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/28/14 11:06 by bioyans.

bioyans Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Vanakatherock Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> Another good thing to do in Lightroom, is correct
> for lens distortion first. If Adobe has a profile
> for the lens you are using, try correcting that
> first. I've had shots that looked good in the
> viewfinder, but then appeared "off" when I
> downloaded the image for processin. Correcting
> the lens distortion took out the bulk of what
> bothered me, and lessened the "tweaking" that
> needed to be done in perspective correction of the
> actual image.


Agreed. I learned that trick when I watched YouTube videos about Lightroom. It makes a world of difference, especially using low-end kit lenses.