Wathcing your horizons

[Joe Cyr]

I hear this discussed quite frequently, particularly in the sports section so I thought I would ask this... What are your reasons for this? And what do you do with a photo that has, what appears to be two different angles? Tennis is a prime example. You can have the net (or the lines painted on the court) slanting in one direction, but the fence pole behind the player slanting in the opposite direction (or not slanting at all)?

In this example, white line of the court slants one way, while the fence slants another. Any thoughts?

[clarence]

Due to perspective, your horizontal lines will always converge in the distance.

That's why I use vertical lines as a level (plumb) reference. In this case, I'd use the fence post running up and down behind her shoulder.

[Patrick]

I agree. It's also a time saver to not have to crop and rotate your photos.

[Sibil]

Due to perspective, your horizontal lines will always converge in the distance.

That's why I use vertical lines as a level (plumb) reference. In this case, I'd use the fence post running up and down behind her shoulder.

I agree and that's what I try to do myself. Depending on the angles of a shot involved, I find that trying to get the horizontals correct often results in people/players not being plumb.

[snyderman]

+1 on what Clarence said. The subject isn't always straight up and down due to stance or movement while carrying out duties as a player. I tend to look for nonmoving people or objects like fences or bleachers or trees in BG that I know are vertically straight and use those to adjust horizon.

If you look at the entire frame, your eyeballs will quickly tell you if the pic is horizontally correct or not.

And Joe, your shot looks good!

dave

[chris270]

If you look at the entire frame, your eyeballs will quickly tell you if the pic is horizontally correct or not.

Exactly, usually the background will look odd when the horizon is off. Instincts...

[Zivnuska]

Due to perspective, your horizontal lines will always converge in the distance.

That's why I use vertical lines as a level (plumb) reference.

Yep. Vertical is vertical. Horizontal varies.

[clarence]

Yep. Vertical is vertical. Horizontal varies.

Well, except for extremes... vertical lines on a skyscraper converge towards infinity too. That's why they make Tilt-Shift lenses.

But for most vertical lines in the viewfinder, they'll be plumb.