Do off-vertical/horizontal lines bother you?

I've always been a bit of a 'straight-liner' in that I would straighten and crop my photos, even candid shots of family and friends. I know that for landscapes and more formal portraits it's more of an important factor, but for casual shoots I've been struggling to decide whether to straighten my images if they are a little bit off.

Maybe it's a bit OCD and some people wouldn't even concern themselves with things like this but it's becoming a pain in the neck for me.

So does this bother you with our own shots or even other peoples?

If the lines appear to be leaning because of sloppy work by the 'tog, then yes they bother me. If they are like that to improve a composition, then no, but it needs to be clear that it was meant to be like that.

How far off line would bother you? 1 degree, 3 degrees?

I've seen me straighten some from this morning by less than half a degree (0.37 or thereabouts)

Never bothered to measure! But that sounds like you meant it to be either vertical or horizontal and its not, so I would probably change it.

I more often than not open up my pics in the crop window of lightroom and at least experiment to some extent with image rotation. I do my best to get it right in camera, and for the most part do get it right; however, in post you have a chance to take a second look and sometimes you are able to see things you didn't see durring capture.

To answer your question, if I notice my picture are "off" I will crop them.

I try to get a level shot whenever I am shooting, but my hand (and eye) isn't perfect, so I do find myself correcting the photos later. Most of the time when I do have to correct them though, it's because they're off by a degree or so, give or take half a degree.

I guess I should try to include a bit of tilt in my photography so that I won't feel this overwhelming need for levelness, hmmm.

Something to work on I guess.

Lowner wrote in post #15120299
If the lines appear to be leaning because of sloppy work by the 'tog, then yes they bother me. If they are like that to improve a composition, then no, but it needs to be clear that it was meant to be like that.

Same. Generally I don't like things being crooked but it can work in some situations. It's frustrating how easily you can still see a small angle, even a fraction of a degree. Sometimes easier to tell in the image than in the viewfinder.

plumgoo wrote in post #15121024
I try to get a level shot whenever I am shooting, but my hand (and eye) isn't perfect, so I do find myself correcting the photos later. Most of the time when I do have to correct them though, it's because they're off by a degree or so, give or take half a degree.

I guess I should try to include a bit of tilt in my photography so that I won't feel this overwhelming need for levelness, hmmm.

Something to work on I guess.

I like your thinking lol

I seem to be consistant at between 0.5 and 1.5 degrees off level, dropping off to the right which I can only assume is from pressing the shutter button.

keith30d wrote in post #15121178
I seem to be consistant at between 0.5 and 1.5 degrees off level, dropping off to the right which I can only assume is from pressing the shutter button.

Same here. For some time I thought it was something wrong with my camera, then I placed it on my tripod and levelled it (with a laser level), yeah, it turned out that it must be my fault.

I shot weddings for a while with a partner and her photos where so horribly tilted.. If I make a picture of a building, a door or something else very straight, I move myself to the center of the building on the outside and then make a picture as straight as I can with what i have for camera/lens. She always did this from the side which causes so many wrong things to happen, and that was unfixable.

So I have this thing for straight lines a lot ! Maybe a little less in my own hobby-work but for weddings it has to be straight.

The small changes annoy me way more than large ones. If it's off by 10 degrees or more I figure is there by plan and it either works or doesn't. If it's off by less than 5 I figure it's the photog just missing the mark and PP straightening was missed or the electronic level was not turned on.